From acclaimed Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (PULSE) comes PENANCE, a five-part miniseries making its U.S. debut on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray later this month. Today we're happy to present an exclusive clip from the film, which you can find below. It comes without much context, so the result is rather unsettling and eerie.
The synopsis:
Penance (Shokuzai) unfolds on a sleepy small town playground, when a mysterious stranger approaches a group of young friends, then kidnaps and brutally murders one of the girls. Wracked with grief, the victim’s unhinged mother Asako (Kyoko Koizumi) demands that the shaken survivors identify the killer or face a penance of her choosing. Growing up in the shadow of this tragic debt, each of the four girls cultivates a warped survival mechanism – avoidance, desperation, fear and obsession.
Doppelgänger Releasing will offer PENANCE in two different versions, as intended by Kurosawa. First, Doppelgänger Releasing will issue the theatrical film version at New York City’s Cinema Village on November 14, 2014, as it was seen at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and other fests around the world.
Then, PENANCE will be issued on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD (iTunes, Google Play, Amazon) as a five-part miniseries beginning November 18, 2014, just as it was broadcast on Japanese television when it premiered in 2012. You can pre-order the Blu-ray right HERE.