DVD Review: There’s no explaining ‘Vengeance’

Japanese director Shohei Imamura had a long, somewhat strange career. For a decade, starting in the late ’50s, he attracted attention for a series of social realist films, often with an ironic view of the American occupation. After a decade, he dropped fiction altogether, directing a number of documentaries throughout the ’70s. In 1979, he returned to dramatic film with the serial killer picture “Vengeance Is Mine”; he worked continually for the remaining 25 years of his life, twice winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Vengeance Is Mine” feels like a clinical psychological portrait, but it never really pins down a simple cause for its protagonist’s hideous behavior. Based on a true story, it recounts the brief and bloody career of Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata), who smashes a co-worker’s head in with a hammer and then manages to commit four more murders before getting caught. He appears to have no real strategy: the first murder only yields a bit of cash. During the movie’s first third, Imamura intercuts a series of flashbacks from Iwao’s youth; they show him to be obstinate and rebellious, but otherwise explain nothing.

The style is mostly realistic, with just a hint of the outrageousness and humor that characterized his last few films.

Criterion provides a pristine transfer, with only a few extras. There is a 10-minute interview segment from 1999, which is not particularly interesting, and a booklet with critical essays and more interview material. The main attraction is the dazzlingly knowledgeable commentary track from Asian film expert Tony Rayns.

Vengeance Is Mine (Criterion, Blu-ray, $39.95; DVD, $29.95)

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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).