Maxance Vincent
The 2024 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival has kicked off once again in Montreal, where genre cinema lovers meow at the screen in anticipation of some of the craziest, most out-there programming of the festival season. The meowing is something that can’t be properly explained in writing (this also applies to the standing ovation people give when an ad for Nongshim Ramen appears as if it’s Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man: No Way Home), but it’s part of the charm of what makes this festival so special, and one of the reasons why filmmakers like Kevin Smith, James Gunn, Adam Wingard, Edgar Wright, and Mike Flanagan like to premiere their movies there. The latter will receive a career achievement award this weekend while also introducing the filmmaking talents of Chris Stuckmann with the world premiere of his feature debut, Shelby Oaks, which NEON recently picked up.
This incredible atmosphere is at the heart of each great Fantasia screening, where the audience enthusiastically (often rapturously) responds to the movie they see with thunderous applause, gasps, laughs, or even loud shouting during the screenings, but never to the detriment of the film’s quality. Perhaps it’s not as refined as Cannes, but it’s what makes Fantasia one of the most unique film festivals in the world. In the case of Nobuhiro Yamashita’s Confession (it’s worth noting that the director has three movies premiering at the festival, with Ghost Cat Anzu and Swimming in a Sand Pool), which is competing for the Cheval Noir award, one audience member expressively yelled, “OH, COME ON!” during the film’s main twist, leading the audience into massive laughter and cheers (we probably all thought the same thing).
It’s best going into Confession, as with any Fantasia film, as cold as possible. One must know, however, that the film centers around two friends, Asai (Toma Ikuta) and Jiyong (Yang Ik-june), who climb up a mountain to celebrate the life of their friend, Sayuri (Nao), who passed away over 16 years ago. During a blizzard in a secluded cabin, a badly injured Jiyong confesses his sins to Asai, as he believes he is about to die. What could’ve been a simple huis clos between the two men as they analyze Jiyong’s confession turns into a sick game of hide-and-seek, as one seeks to kill the other…and vice-versa.
Yamashita rapidly subverts expectations and fills his relentless 76-minute runtime with one surprising swerve after the other. The pace is so quick that it almost feels mind-numbing occasionally, as it never lets us catch our breath. However, Yamashita infuses his film with enough surreal, often evocative imagery to keep you on edge for the entire runtime. It’s also surprisingly blunt in its violence, with several moments bordering on splatter horror if it wasn’t for the slightly comedic touch it frequently adopts. With each moment of intense tension reaching its apex, Yamashita gives a surprising cathartic release with a humorous jolt, which suddenly appeases the sense of dread permeating his picture.
Yamashita’s expertise at blending traditional tropes and subverting them smartly is second to none. He puts in the scariest jumpscare or two in places where no one would expect (there’s no buildup; the character just screams out of his mind, lunging on the other), while also adding lots of potent drama in representing the guilt both protagonists carry as the confession weighs on them. Since he doesn’t have much time, he compensates with parallel cuts to a flashback involving the duo with Sayuri, as we slowly learn what happened while the two play hide-and-kill in their secluded home. The sense of tension is slowly palpable until the action breaks it, without ever piecing it back.
But it eventually gets redundant, and Yamashita knows it. That’s where he decides to pull off the worst twist in the book, which made Letterboxd user LeCinématoGrapheur state that “it should be forbidden under the Geneva Convention of screenwriting” (and made the aforementioned guy yell “OH, COME ON!” at the screening), as this cat-and-mouse scenario has absolutely zero way out.
Unfortunately, this decision sinks the movie and never recovers. Its final shot is at least interesting but doesn’t have the same impact as it otherwise would have without that massive reveal, which completely dilutes what the movie could end up with. The reveal is also completely unwarranted since Confession will seemingly end similarly, whether it has it or not. Ultimately, it leaves the tightly-staged but effective thriller with a bad taste in the mouth, an affront to screenwriting so insulting the audience might have thought their time was completely wasted.
As a result, Confession only goes so far with an edge-of-your-seat, thrilling dual between two actors in complete control of their portrayals, modulating nail-biting suspense with pitch-perfect deadpan humor and brutal violence. It creates a genre mashup that’s poised to be reacted strongly with Montreal’s Fantasia audience. Whether they like it or not doesn’t seem to matter. You will react to it no matter what, especially when watching it with the unique Fantasia crowd. Better sit back and enjoy the ride.
SCORE: ★★1/2
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