Shohei Imamura's Vengeance is Mine, from 1979, is an intriguing look at the life of a Japanese serial killer and the havoc he wreaks. Imamura seized upon this project after devoting himself to documentary films after the commercial failure of his 1968 feature, Profound Desires of the Gods. The hiatus seems to have had a positive effect on his art as Vengeance is Mine is more multi-layered than his previous work. The satiric feel and political barbs of his earlier films, such as Pigs and Battleships and The Pornographers, are still in evidence, but Imamura's canvas and embrace of humanity seems larger. He still gets his jabs in at fascism, American imperialism and Japanese conformity, but his characters are more rounded and his camera more all-embracing.
The color cinematography is rich and carnal. The moments of sensuality warmer and more impactful than in his previous work. An abortive tryst between the protagonist's father and his daughter in law packs a charge, illuminating the repressed culture the protagonist is reacting against. Imamura often cuts away from his players before the denouement of a scene is enacted. This mirrors the hurtling momentum of the protagonist who professes a carpe diem philosophy. Ken Ogata, best known in the West for playing the title character in Paul Schrader's Mishima, portrays well both the surface charm and the sociopathy of the protagonist. Ogata would work again for the director in Why Not? and Imamura's masterpiece, the remake of The Ballad of Narayama.
Vengeance is Mine falls just short of being a masterpiece. Some of the supporting players' work is weak, the third act is a smidge too long and the ending is perfunctory. Still, this mark a quantum leap. Michael Atkinson groups Imamura with such sardonic objectivists as Preminger and Chabrol and that seems about right to me. Vengeance is Mine has elements of the police procedural, but Imamura is more interested in casting a cold eye on the dysfunctional dynamics of postwar Japan. There is much to take in and mull in Vengeance is Mine.
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