Penance
5 Episodes
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2012 • Japan
Starring Kyoko Koizumi, Hazuki Kimura, Manatsu Kimura
An unsolved murder haunts the lives of four childhood friends in this eerie, intense five-part psychological thriller from master of ambient dread Kiyoshi Kurosawa (CURE, CLOUD). On a small-town playground, a mysterious stranger approaches a group of young girls. When one is found murdered, the victim’s grief-stricken mother (Kyoko Koizumi) demands that the shaken survivors identify the killer or face a penance of her choosing. Growing up in the shadow of this tragic debt, each of the four girls cultivates a warped survival mechanism: avoidance, desperation, fear, and obsession. A disturbing, intricately constructed exploration of trauma, guilt, and memory from a female perspective, PENANCE blends Kurosawa’s trademark atmosphere of creeping unease with a quietly devastating commentary on Japanese gender expectations.
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1:15:13Episode 1PENANCE: Episode 1
Episode 1
“The French Doll”
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2012 • Japan
Starring Kyoko Koizumi, Hazuki Kimura, Manatsu KimuraTragedy strikes when Emili is shockingly murdered by a mysterious stranger. The other four girls present at the scene of the crime—Sae, Maki, Akiko, and Yuka—are unable to remembe...
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50:13Episode 2PENANCE: Episode 2
Episode 2
“Emergency PTA Meeting”
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2012 • Japan
Starring Kyoko Koizumi, Hazuki Kimura, Manatsu KimuraMaki is now a relentlessly strict teacher at an elementary school and trains in self-defense techniques in her off-time to combat her overall sense of helplessness. When an ...
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50:12Episode 3PENANCE: Episode 3
Episode 3
“Brother and Sister Bear”
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2012 • Japan
Starring Kyoko Koizumi, Hazuki Kimura, Manatsu KimuraAkiko has withdrawn from society and lives a reclusive life at home. But things change when her brother Koji moves back home from Tokyo with his wife and stepdaughter. As ...
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50:12Episode 4PENANCE: Episode 4
Episode 4
“Ten Months Ten Days”
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2012 • Japan
Starring Kyoko Koizumi, Hazuki Kimura, Manatsu KimuraWhen Yuka was a child, her mother always favored her sickly older sister, Mayu. Now the successful proprietor of a flower shop, Yuka is still consumed by jealousy. When Mayu m...
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1:15:13Episode 5PENANCE: Episode 5
Episode 5
“Atonement”
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 2012 • Japan
Starring Kyoko Koizumi, Hazuki Kimura, Manatsu KimuraFifteen years since the murder of her daughter, Asako is still overtaken with grief and resentment. One day she receives a vital new clue as to the identity of Emili’s killer and sets o...