Vengeance Is Mine

Iwao Enokizu is a small time thief and a blunt killer who slips away from the law yet remains tied to a web of people he touches. He drifts through a seedy mix of city streets and rural backyards, leaving behind fear and questions rather than a clean getaway. Imamura treats crime as a social maze rather than a straightforward pursuit, letting conversations and incidental encounters reveal more than any chase. Enokizu crosses paths with Haru, a woman whose charm hides danger, and Kazuko, a weary spouse, as the story probes desire, guilt, and the price of violence. The men and women around him react with a mix of fear and fascination, painting a portrait of a society where order never fully settles, revealing texture.

Directed by Shōhei Imamura, Vengeance Is Mine arrived in 1979 as a stark crime drama that looks beyond chase scenes. The screenplay is by Masaru Baba, Shunsaku Ikehata, and Ryūzō Saki, with Imamura guiding a cast led by Ken Ogata.

Box office figures for Vengeance Is Mine are not widely reported, and the film is usually discussed for its artistic ambition rather than its commercial performance, with a release outside Japan that appealed to critics, cinephiles and festival audiences worldwide.

Imamura's unflinching approach to criminals and their social surroundings has left a lasting mark on Japanese cinema, and on crime cinema worldwide. The film is noted for its patient, observational pacing, earthy humor, and willingness to show violence without spectacle, shaping later works that fuse social critique with intimate portraiture.

Critics praised the film for its nuanced portrayal of guilt and complicity, and for Ken Ogata's restrained yet magnetic performance as Enokizu. The work examines how crime unsettles families and neighborhoods, tests loyalties, and unsettles the moral balance of a society that pretends to understand itself and rethinks moral certainty.