Shokuzai

A primary school girl, Adachi Emiri, is raped and murdered. Four of her friends, who were playing with her on the schoolyard that day, saw the murderer face-to-face, yet cannot do anything to identify him. Emiri's mother, Asako, invites the girls to a birthday party held in Emiri's memory. Sitting opposite them at the table, she confronts them with the following words:

"I won't forgive any of you. Find the murderer no matter what it takes. Otherwise, atone in ways that will satisfy me. I’ll never forget about you until that is done. You won't escape from the atonement."

Fifteen years later there are still no hints to the identity of the criminal. The case ran cold, yet the memories of the incident haunt the four survivors, their lives bent and twisted around these curse-like words.

Shokuzai is a story of vengeance and atonement, directed by acclaimed director Kurosawa Kiyoshi and based on a novel by Minato Kanae, the author of Kokuhaku and the currently airing Koukou Nyushi. The five episode mini-series was produced by WOWOW, a broadcaster with a reputation for the dark, grim and gritty, and they prove this reputation is well deserved. The first four episodes follow the stories of each of the surviving girls, connected only by the past that left them scarred, and the person of Asako (Koizumi Kyoko), always in black, appearing before them like a wraith.

In the first episode, Aoi Yuu plays a beautician with a distrust towards men, who finds herself in an emotionally abusive relationship. Second episode shows a story of a strict teacher (Koike Eiko), who rises and falls as a local hero after an incident in which she violently deals with an assailant on the school grounds. Ando Sakura stars in the third episode as a social recluse, who grows suspicious of her idolized brother's (an rare unsympathetic Kase Ryo) relationship with his own stepdaughter. In the fourth episode Ikewaki Chizuru plays a florist getting back at her sister after years of being sidetracked and taken advantage of. Will any of them break free from the past and Asako's curse? Or is there a chance the murderer will be caught, however slim it may be? The fifth, final episode will show. Or will it?

In terms of realization, the series is excellent. Tension is achieved with minimal means, music is non-existent for the most part or reduced to ambient, with one notable exception being the bagpipes in Ando Sakura's episode. The visuals are typical for a WOWOW show - sharp, cold and realistic. I particularly liked the use of flashbacks in each episode. They showcase different aspects of the day of the murder, that's for sure, but they also play a more subtle role. By continuously, almost nauseously, repeating certain scenes, like the scene where the girls meet the murderer or the quoted scene at the birthday party, the viewer himself feels as if he was constantly reliving the past the same way the characters do.

It's not an easy watch, yet it's certainly worthwhile. With so many dramas being simply a pleasant way to pass the time, it's good to have series like Shokuzai and broadcasters like WOWOW, consistently going against the flow.

My point for this show

You don't often see movie directors of this calibre getting into dramas, but when you do, you're in for a treat. Koreeda Hirokazu is the man behind currently airing Going My Home - we'll see how it will proceed, but the first episode was solid. SABU made Troubleman, a puzzlebox of a series that deserves more attention than it's getting. You also don't often see TV series on Venice Film Festival, which was the case with Shokuzai, either.