Shokuzai

Kiyoshi Kurosawa : 2012
Penance

Tragedy strikes a small Japanese town when a young elementary schoolgirl, Emili, is abducted and killed by a stranger. Four girls who had been playing with Emili at the time are the first to discover her body. The abductor is never found and the crime goes unsolved. Crazed with grief, Emili's mother Asako condemns the four girls, none of whom can remember the abductor's face. She tells them, "Do whatever you have to to find the killer. Otherwise, you can pay a penance that I approve." Fifteen years later, deeply affected by Asako's condemnation, the four girls become adults burdened with the curse of penance which will eventually trigger a chain of tragic events. Sae has acquired a distrust of men since the traumatic murder. Maki is an elementary school teacher whose unsmiling strictness is a cover for her insecurities. Akiko has become a recluse who feels herself unworthy of human company. And Yuka still resents her once-sickly older sister for monopolising their mother's attention when they were children. Whilst plotting revenge against her sister, Yuka comes across a clue to the killer's identity – and contacts Asako. Based on the novel by Kanae Minato, the film version of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's mini-series premiered out of competition at La Biennale di Venezia 2012.