Update on Kiyoshi Kurosawa's RETRIBUTION (SAKEBI), starring Kôji Yakusho, Manami Konishi, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Hiroyuki Hirayama, Joe Odagiri, and Ryô Kase

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Retribution (Sakebi) - a.k.a. "Shriek" (English-language working title) - is scheduled to première at the 63rd Venice Film Festival (VFF) in late August/early September. The movie is also scheduled to be screened at the 39th Sitges - International Film Festival of Catalonia in Spain in October. Xanadeux K.K. (K.K. Zanadû) and Avex Entertainment Inc. (Eibekkusu Entateinmento K.K.) plan to release it theatrically in Japan next spring.

As was previously reported here and there on Twitch, the screenplay for Retribution was written by Kurosawa. The movie apparently stars Kôji Yakusho, Manami Konishi, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Hiroyuki Hirayama, Joe Odagiri (Odagiri Jô), and Ryô Kase.

Here's a synopsis for Retribution from the production: "Detective Yoshioka is haunted by the image of a woman in a red dress and caught in a terror that he himself might be a killer of the serial-killer case he chases after. Is his memory twisted? The grudge of the dead comes to this life and roar as 'Shriek' [English-language working title] and this present life starts to shake."

Here's a synopsis for Retribution from minipara (formerly mini-theater paradise) via Pymmik.com: "Somehow around the police detective Yoshioka (Koji Yakusho), a series of murder cases occur. Yoshioka, whose duty is to investigate the cases and arrest the murderers, begins to be haunted by a strange feeling; he starts wondering whether he himself may not be the murderer. Around the murdered people he finds some clues which hint that he may have killed them. What horrifies him most is that his memory itself blurs and cannot tell for certain that he is innocent. ¶ Yoshioka's girlfriend Harue (Manami Konishi) observes suffering Yoshioka with a cool gaze: they have been in love for a long time but their relationship does not seem to be so close. ¶ One of Yoshioka's colleagues, another detective called Miyaji who starts suspecting Yoshioka, suffer through having a feeling of friendship and a sense of duty at the same time. ¶ Yoshioka, who is scared of his fading memories and his past, visits a psychiatrist, Dr. Takagi (Jo Odagiri)'s clinic, and starts getting treatment; but the haze in Yoshioka's brain never disappears.... ¶ One day a scary shriek haunts Yoshioka while he is loitering around the place where the first murder case happened. A woman's faint and sad cry says, 'I will forgive only you.' Yoshioka is perplexed by his dual-character-like past. Harue observes Yoshioka with an icy gazes. Both Miyaji and Takagi suffer from their own professional dilemma. In due course a mysterious man on a work boat tempts Yoshioka, saying, 'Why don't you get on this boat and have a peep of the other side of the world?' ¶ One mystery evokes another mystery. Is this happening in the real world or somehow in a different world? People's destinies which are connected by dirty water and dark thread, tingle quietly with each other in the present and past worlds or in the past and present worlds.... And Yoshioka becomes involved without noticing. ¶ At the end of the story, [an] incredible ending awaits Yoshioka. It becomes clear who gives the shriek and the secret that is hidden behind the wording, 'I will forgive only you' is revealed."

VFF: Out of Competition - Midnight