Lesson in Murder

A riveting mystery thriller by Kazuya Shiraishi, one of Japan's more prominent modern directors.

It's surprisingly emotional as it proceeds about its plot in a procedural fashion. Lonely teenager receives a letter by convicted serial killer who claims one of the murders wasn't actually done by him. Great premise for a thriller, isn't it? But there's more than meets the eye here. There are complex family dynamics and child abuse present in the background, constantly putting this in a more challenging and demanding territory than if it was a standard mystery.

Shiraishi ably directs this film, giving his actors plenty of opportunities to show their worth, and they do. Kenshi Okada as our protagonist, student-turned-sleuth Kakei Masaya, is capable of holding his own even if he isn't actually the main draw in the acting performances here. That would be Sadao Abe as the chilling serial killer. He steals almost every scene he's in, sporting a lot of charisma but always off as a person like that probably would be. He's alternately sinister and calm, sometimes revealing his utter lack of morality and emotion. Those sequences, often stylishly juxtaposing his image with Kakei's during his prison visits, are the film's most effective.

The visuals are quite atmospheric and appealing too. The overall production value, in fact, is at a high level all around. There's no shortage of style or substance. Compared to another recent Japanese serial killer thriller, Missing, this one is more straightforward, but provides plenty of quality content of its own. The downsides aren't numerous, but one of them deserves a mention, though. That would be the film's insistence on drawing out the ending until it starts souring the film's impact a bit. There were scenes which would have perfectly bookended the story, but they kept on revealing more unnecessary twists and turns. You would hope they'd know better than that.

Overall, though, I was pretty satisfied with this rainy mystery. It's one for those cold evenings with a hot drink by your side. :)

The film lacks a sense of reality, as many of the developments are not unlike those of the Japanese justice system. Also, many of the developments are predictable and not surprising, but I still thought this film was great because of the excellent performance of Sadawo Abe in the lead role. Mr. Abe did an excellent job of playing an orderly pleasure killer who skillfully tames abused and emotionally traumatized boys and girls. As an audience member, we were relieved that he had already been arrested and imprisoned in the film, but Mr. Abe's performance was so excellent that even our relief was threatened.

Some scenes are hard to watch but they depict what twisted mind serial killers do. The acting was amazing, delivery was like from a real psycho killer. Manipulative and selfish. Send chills down my spine. Koshi's acting was on par too. A confused college boy just trying to get over his grief and make sense of what happened.

The atmosphere was gloomy enough for a movie about murders with good choice of music background.

Cinematography of the scences in the coutryside was enjoyable to watch.

I've watched a lot of western movies/tv series about serial killers, like Dexter so watching an Asian one is refreshing.

This movie 1st act promised a lot of things. A serial killer got caught, trialled and sentenced to death. But he refused one killing among others. A young law college student was mailed by him and over time agreed to help him. Sounds really exciting for a thriller movie, right?!

But it went downhill after that. The 2nd act especially was the weakest. Unnecessary side plots and characters, confusing characters development and many loose end that made viewers scratched their heads. And don't ask me about the ending, cause it really put the last nail in the coffin. Such a shame, it could have been a great thriller movie.

Disappointing 6/10.