Gukôroku

A journalist investigates the unexplainable, brutal murder of an upper class family, slowly piecing together an intricate puzzle and revealing a web of intertwined relationships between have and have-nots in the caste-like society of a Japanese city.

I really enjoyed both the acting as well as the direction. Every single scene looked perfect, neat and tidy.

"Gukôroku" (or "Traces of Sin" in its English title) is a highly entertaining movie, with an incredible atmosphere, great pace and some food for thought that only falters a little bit in the end because of a tad overlong running time.

Satoshi Tsumabuki plays Tanaka, a journalist that decides to poke his nose in the old case of the murder of a family. His boss, knowing of his family situation (his sister is detained because of neglecting the care of her baby) decides to let him tackle the old case. Tanaka goes around meeting old friends from the family, like co-workers or university friends, little by little discovering a world of darkness, selfishness and an overall ugly image of a shallow and competitive culture. Tsumabuki does a great job in keeping his Tanaka a detached, curious viewer of the stories that unfold around him, his character just the medium that connects the viewer with the story. Everyone else does also a great job in creating characters that will make the viewer squirm and writhe in disgust, sadness or fear. The direction helps, keeping things simple and clear.

The tone of the movie is great, even though it is a little bit uneven in the time jumps and the moments it turns to Tanaka's relationship with his sister. The music and dark palette intensify the dread and dark tone of the movie. And when the twists appear, because there are a couple of them, they add to the movie (even if one or two are not particularly surprising).

"Gukôroku" is a great movie. Just be ready for a descent into human darkness.

This is one of those movies that is better watching it the second time than the first time. The first time, I honestly hated the movie and the pacing was awful and a bit of a torture. It definitely requires a lot of patience, focus and investment. The second time, it goes by a lot faster and is more interesting.

The reason is watching it the first time, it is an absolute bore/slow/mundane just seeing the guy interview people and all you wonder to yourself the entire time is why you should even care about these people. The interviews itself is really not even exciting or interesting either unless you know the ending.

I agree with the other reviews that it takes too long for the payoff. I thought the twist was predictable, but if you watch it the second time, the beginning boring mundane scenes are what becomes more interesting to watch.

You also pick up little detail symbolic clues like the wreath in the murder home and coffee shop; I wondered why the camera would pan in a weird framing shot to show emphasis on the wreath. There's a lot of symbolic scenes that make you interpret and think instead of how Hollywood directly shows it in your face (instead of directly showing sex, the multiple hands that look like something from a horror movie; you feel trauma and disgust of what the character went through)

Watching it the first time, it can be very confusing to follow the characters/names because the actors also end up looking quite different/hairstyle of themselves being interviewed from their past time.

Natsuhara, is the rich perfect beautiful girl everyone wishes they could be. One of the movie's theme really deals with how society treats people based on their family background, status, sorority groups and some evil things people end up doing just to fit in.

Hikari Mitsushima, playing Mitsuko, definitely steals the show here. She really delivered a genuinely convincing poor abused mental character.

I think the movie would have been better if the pacing was refined more. The movie could have been half the length and still tell the same story. However, if you have the patience and focus and into psychological thrillers, you'll find it intriguing, especially viewing it the second time.

I don't think the twist was a major shock or had that huge impact as when I saw the Korean movie "Oldboy", but the movie is really dark and depressing the more you think about it.

Although the plot is entirely different, the pacing and main character/behavior of movie reminds me of a lot of the American movie called "The Drop" (2014) with Tom Hardy. (so if you enjoyed this movie, I would recommend that)

This film tells the story of a journalist in a monthly magazine in Japan. He revisits a story of the gruesome murder of a seemingly perfect family when it is close to the one year anniversary of the murder. He interviews the people who knew the victims, discovering uncomfortable truths of the individuals involved.

"Gukoroku - Traces of Sin" is a slow moving film. The interviews are slow and dialog intense. These interviews and flashbacks reveal the true nature of the victims when they were alive. To be honest, the interviews are not that thrilling or engaging. It gets rather boring towards the middle. However, the last section of the film gradually descends into a exciting and gripping story. The ending seems to be an open ending, insinuating a horrible deed, unless I missed an important clue in the film.

Overall, I think the ending takes a bit too long to build up. It is a good ending, but I have lost interest before the ending to care about it.

The guy is handsome and I love crime dramas. It was an easy decision to watchlist this movie. How bad can it be after all? And it's not. It's actually interesting in a twisted kind of way, only it defies all expectations. It covers a whole range of genres, least of all crime drama. It starts with a crime and an unresolved murder, but there's hardly an investigation, criminal or journalistic. It starts to delve into the victims' past and it's strange, but they're so unpleasant it's hard to care that they were murdered or even see them as victims. The memory of them as recounted by friends and acquaintances reveals nearly psychopathic behaviour. It's almost like the world is better off without these two in it. Which is an odd choice, but it makes sense at the very end.

Did not see it coming and it certainly takes you by surprise with the repeated revelations towards the end and the personal connection, coming together towards a shocking conclusion and then it all makes sense in a very twisted way. Including the title.

I am reluctant to rate it this high, it's more of a rational choice, because I resented it for being a very different type of movie and it feels like it relishes a little too much focusing on antisocial behaviour. And I'm being euphemistic so as not to spoil things. Much like the movie Himizu, it kind of overdoes it.