Writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, known for unsettling films such as Cure and Tokyo Sonata, brought his distinctive touch to TV with this five-part 2012 miniseries based on a novel by Kanae Minato. The episodic structure follows waves that ripple from a single disturbance—the murder of a schoolgirl who was lured away while playing with four friends. The dead girl's mother, Asako (Kyoko Koizumi), is furious with her daughter's playmates for being unable or unwilling to identify the perpetrator, condemning them all to perform proper penance for their conduct. Subsequent chapters show how each suffers the effects of what amounts to a mother's curse. One marries a frightening control freak, another becomes a disciplinarian teacher whose obsession with the early tragedy destroys her career, a third is confronted by her own brother's mistreatment of a young child, and the fourth seeks vengeance against her sister through a seduction of her brother-in-law. All are visited, as their lives collapse around them, by Asako and the ghost of their deceased friend. Penance is a subtly unnerving, thoroughly engrossing series that veers off in odd directions, consistently undercutting expectations. DVD extras include interviews with Kurosawa and cast members. Recommended. (F. Swietek)
Penance
Music Box, 2 discs, 300 min., in Japanese w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $34.95 Volume 30, Issue 2
Penance
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