Celebrity 
157
456
17
1
2
6
3
8
10
3
14
1
1
1
2
1
2
7
14
9
12
"I can no longer pretend not to see what's in front of me"
Retribution starring Yakusho Koji wasn’t terrifying but it was unnerving. If you’re looking for jump scares and horrifying ghosts and creatures, this isn’t it. The retribution felt more like rage aimed at society rather than anything targeting a group of trespassers or individuals.
Detective Yoshioka is assigned to the murder of a woman in a red dress who was drown in a puddle of salt water. Small clues point to him, but no one, not even he believes it. Other murders occur with similar modes of death leading the police to consider a serial killer is on the loose. Yoshioka is visited by a ghost in a red dress prompting him to visit the police psychologist. The psychologist tells him that ghosts in dreams are revealing a truth the individual knows but doesn’t want to face. Yoshioka vacillates between wanting to run away or digging deeper to discover the truth behind the murders and the lady in red.
This film felt very enigmatic and atmospheric to me. Perhaps a deeper cultural understanding of Tokyo’s real estate development and destruction might have clued me in more. Much was made of an area where Yoshioka lived that was in flux between demolition and development. Important things and people were abandoned and left to deteriorate. Forgotten, crumbling in plain sight, though rarely seen. Earthquakes symbolized deadly transitions.
There were times the viewer was let in close to Yoshioka and his own deteriorating state. Other times I felt like a specter floating on the ceiling. The police department appeared to be a giant poorly lit warehouse with dark corners, often shot from above. Murder scenes occurred in reclaimed regions resembling bombed out buildings. The psychologist’s office might as well have been a haunted building for all the warmth and comfort it offered. It’s never a good sign when your mental health is so disturbing the psychologist closes your case and boots you out. Was Yoshioka mad or was he truly being haunted? Threads with the intrinsic substance of a whisper bound the suspects together.
Retribution had no gore and no ghoulish phantoms. Aside from her tornado siren shriek, the lady in red wasn’t that spooky. The truth she hid and perhaps perpetrated was the most sinister element to her. Yakusho Koji once again gave a stellar performance, one that kept the audience engaged yet at a distance and guessing, as his guilt and fate had to be uncovered like a stain on the wall.
31 October 2026
Detective Yoshioka is assigned to the murder of a woman in a red dress who was drown in a puddle of salt water. Small clues point to him, but no one, not even he believes it. Other murders occur with similar modes of death leading the police to consider a serial killer is on the loose. Yoshioka is visited by a ghost in a red dress prompting him to visit the police psychologist. The psychologist tells him that ghosts in dreams are revealing a truth the individual knows but doesn’t want to face. Yoshioka vacillates between wanting to run away or digging deeper to discover the truth behind the murders and the lady in red.
This film felt very enigmatic and atmospheric to me. Perhaps a deeper cultural understanding of Tokyo’s real estate development and destruction might have clued me in more. Much was made of an area where Yoshioka lived that was in flux between demolition and development. Important things and people were abandoned and left to deteriorate. Forgotten, crumbling in plain sight, though rarely seen. Earthquakes symbolized deadly transitions.
There were times the viewer was let in close to Yoshioka and his own deteriorating state. Other times I felt like a specter floating on the ceiling. The police department appeared to be a giant poorly lit warehouse with dark corners, often shot from above. Murder scenes occurred in reclaimed regions resembling bombed out buildings. The psychologist’s office might as well have been a haunted building for all the warmth and comfort it offered. It’s never a good sign when your mental health is so disturbing the psychologist closes your case and boots you out. Was Yoshioka mad or was he truly being haunted? Threads with the intrinsic substance of a whisper bound the suspects together.
Retribution had no gore and no ghoulish phantoms. Aside from her tornado siren shriek, the lady in red wasn’t that spooky. The truth she hid and perhaps perpetrated was the most sinister element to her. Yakusho Koji once again gave a stellar performance, one that kept the audience engaged yet at a distance and guessing, as his guilt and fate had to be uncovered like a stain on the wall.
31 October 2026
Was this review helpful to you?
