85
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe film gathers fearful force.
- 91The A.V. ClubDavid EhrlichThe A.V. ClubDavid EhrlichAt times a frustrating experience, Vengeance Is Mine transforms over the course of its running time, Enokizu’s impenetrable nature eventually bottoming out and blossoming into a perverse relatability.
- 90Time OutTime OutAt once darkly comic and quasi-tragic, Imamura’s often brilliant tale of Eros and Thanatos is perverse, powerful and subversive.
- 88Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardOnly Imamura could irreverently intertwine Catholicism, brutal murders, and pachinko to produce such devastating ends.
- 80Washington PostPaul AttanasioWashington PostPaul AttanasioShocking and relentless, the movie pioneers an unholy border between Rembrandt and pornography, finding a transcendent unity in the abasements and attainments of man.
- 80Made in 1979, the film has aged superbly, the shock of its violence and acuity of its insights still retaining their punch. True, its lengthy running time is demanding and the momentum does dip in the second half, but it's held together by cool-headed technique and Ken Ogata's imposing lead performance.
- Director Imamura effectively portrays some of the more negative aspects of the forces that have shaped modern Japanese people. In this manner the picture resembles his chilling films of teenage wanderlust made in the 1950s.
- 80Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrImamura’s detached, almost scientific style forestalls any pat sympathy for the central character—he is not a sentimental “victim of society,” but the embodiment of its darkest Darwinian forces.
- 80The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyVENGEANCE IS MINE, directed by Shohei Imamura, a Japanese director largely unknown in this country, is chilly without being austere, the sort of confounding movie that tells us too much and not enough.
- 70EmpireWilliam ThomasEmpireWilliam ThomasOgata's performance is the obvious highlight, and Imamura constructs an utterly plausible scenario, but at times overreaches, and loses focus. If you can tolerate a few extraneous scenes, though, this is a dark treat.