Excellent, a Must See

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I like a lot some Japanese horror movies but,on last years,that kind of cinema made a new cliché:the ghost looking for revenge.And that formula tired me.So,I did not expect too much from Retribution.But,I have to say the film was a nice surprise.It's not great but it's fun and tense.First of all,Retribution is more focused on the suspense than other Japanese horror movies.And the film kept me very tense and I wanted to know what could happen.The film has a very good story that,since the beginning caught my attention.The fail I found on this movie is that there are some redundant and a little bit boring scenes which could have been edited out.Retribution is a very decent film which kept me interested and,except some moments,it kept me very entertained.

Kyoshi Kurosawa is a talented but maybe too prolific director. Since the early 90's, he had almost directed 30 movies. No wonder that, when Takashige Ichise, the master producer of J-Horror ("Ring", "The Grudge") asks him to direct one of the Jap-Horror trilogy movie along with Hideo Nakata and Shimizu, you get a little feeling of "Déjà-vu" in front of his new movie : "Sakebi" (Retribution). Of course, there's still lots of excellent ideas in the movie, and some parts are majestically directed : all the ghosts apparitions are really beautiful, and the movie take there and then an experimental approach in their representation. It almost looks like a modern art installation. Some shots are also really well thought, as the one of the interrogation of a suspect, filmed in continuation, with the help of a mirror in the back in order to create a double space. But the most original aspect of the movie is the depiction of the modern Tokyo, witch doesn't look modern at all. In the movie, the city looks like a post-war town, everything is rotten and lugubre, there's nobody in the dark streets. You don't often see such a representation of Japan, far from the clichés of the ultra-modern society it's supposed to be.But the problem is that all this was ultimately in others Kurosawa's movies, as if he wanted to offer a sort of best-of his previous works here. His style haven't change, and the story isn't really surprising for any "Kaïro"'s spectator. This lack of surprise leads to a feeling of boringness, and I couldn't get out of my mind, after the movie, the idea that it was clearly unoriginal (for a Kurosawa's movie, of course) and a little bit too long (maybe cutting 20 minutes of the movie would have been a good thing).But all in all, this movie is a good introduction to his tormented universe, and for those who already know it, well, a new Kyoshi Kurosawa's movie certainly comes out in 3 months.

I saw this movie at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The movie was announced as being "horror for those who did not like horror". I was afraid it would be a typical Japanese horror, with creepy sounds, dark colors and mean ghosts. Now, there was a ghost and annoying sounds (the title in Japanese means "the scream"). But there was more.The main character is a detective, who investigates murders in Tokyo. It seems like there is a serial killer out, because the murders have the same method of killing. But then he gets haunted by what seems to be the first victim.The movie evolves from solving a crime and catching a murderer to a search for mysterious connections. It may not all seem to make sense, there is an explanation in the end. Maybe not satisfying enough for some, but I don't think the explanation is the whole point of the movie.There remains a vibe of mystery. If you come in expecting a typical American horror, you surely will be disappointed. But if you like some dark, Japanese mystery, including some scares, you will certainly enjoy this one.

This really is another masterpiece in a gathering of work that puts so many American mainstream horror directors to shame.A rich tale of longing and unrequited desire, summed in an intensely satisfying, and beautiful prose. Delicate, yet overwhelming at times. Smart and distracting, like the written lines of Haruki Murakami, filled with lynchesque overtones. It reminded me of Miike doing Izo, in its expertise in skipping genre and time planes to find its core story. I loved this movie. I know it is clique, but I laughed, I cried. I jumped out of the seat of my pants!!!For a lover of Kurosawa, this is a must!