# Vengeance Is Mine (復讐するは我にあり)
**Vengeance Is Mine** (復讐するは我にあり, *Fukushū suru wa ware ni ari*) is a 1979 Japanese crime drama directed by Shohei Imamura, based on Ryūzō Saki's Naoki Prize-winning novel about the real serial killer Akira Nishiguchi. It follows Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata), a thief, con man, and murderer who evades police across Japan for 78 days while killing five people, told from within a devoutly Catholic family.[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/822-vengeance-is-mine) • [2](https://movies.shochiku.co.jp/100th/fukushusuruhawareniari/) • [3](https://www.netflix.com/jp/title/70067850)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | April 21, 1979, Japan; produced by Shochiku and Imamura Productions[4](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=18956) |
| Runtime | 140 minutes, color, Japanese[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/822-vengeance-is-mine) |
| Basis | Ryūzō Saki's Naoki Prize-winning novel about the Nishiguchi Akira case, in which a man killed five people during a 78-day manhunt[2](https://movies.shochiku.co.jp/100th/fukushusuruhawareniari/) • [3](https://www.netflix.com/jp/title/70067850) |
| Lead cast | Ken Ogata (Iwao Enokizu), Rentarō Mikuni (his father Shizuo), Mitsuko Baishō (his wife Kazuko), Mayumi Ogawa (inn proprietress Haru Asano)[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/822-vengeance-is-mine) |
| Japan Academy Prize (3rd, 1980) | Best Picture, Best Director (Imamura), Best Screenplay (Masaru Baba); Ogata and Mikuni received Excellence Awards for acting[5](https://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=3) |
| Other honors | Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Film and Best Director; Kinema Junpo Best Film, 1979–80[6](https://sinekatalog.com/en/films/vengeance-is-mine.html) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/fukushu-suru-wa-ware-ni-ari) |
| Critical standing | Metascore 85 (universal acclaim); 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 11 reviews; IMDb 7.6/10 from about 8,200 votes[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/vengeance-is-mine-1979/critic-reviews/) • [9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vengeance_is_mine_1979) • [10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079182/ratings/) |
## Spoilers
### Story and subject
The film opens after Enokizu's arrest and then unfolds through a mosaic of flashbacks covering the murders, frauds, and impersonations of his nationwide flight. In the incident that starts it, the bodies of two Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation employees are found in [Fukuoka Prefecture](https://www.edgepedia.org/fukuoka-prefecture) along with about 410,000 yen in stolen tobacco-collection money; Enokizu soon surfaces as a suspect, fakes a suicide note, and continues his crimes under false identities.[11](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/018291)
Imamura keeps the killer's motive unexplained. As the critic Dave Kehr wrote in 1979, the director's detached style forestalls any easy sympathy: Enokizu is not presented as a sentimental victim of society but as the embodiment of its darkest forces.[12](https://mubi.com/en/films/vengeance-is-mine/critics-reviews) The film nonetheless circles possible sources of his violence, including his father's Catholic faith, wartime humiliations, and the moral vacuum of postwar Japan, without settling on any of them.[13](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/sep/09/8)
**The title.** Saki took the original title from the [New Testament](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-testament), generally understood to mean that vengeance against evildoers belongs to God; in the film, it points to the Christian God's judgment on the killer rather than to any revenge Enokizu takes himself.[14](https://www.compalhall.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/31a0c218929a3555c6780f1f183fe772.pdf) • [9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vengeance_is_mine_1979)
## Production
Imamura had spent roughly a decade away from feature filmmaking, working in documentaries and television after the protracted production of *The Profound Desire of the Gods* (1967); *Vengeance Is Mine* was his first feature in ten years.[2](https://movies.shochiku.co.jp/100th/fukushusuruhawareniari/) • [15](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/site2023/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/11/201001s.pdf) He based the film on careful investigation of the actual case, presenting Enokizu's crimes in a coldly realistic style.[14](https://www.compalhall.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/31a0c218929a3555c6780f1f183fe772.pdf) The screenplay was by Masaru Baba, with cinematography by Shinsaku Himeda and music by Shinichiro Ikebe.[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/822-vengeance-is-mine)
Its box office success allowed Imamura to enter an advantageous financial relationship with Shochiku, giving him better production conditions and new national and international outlets for his work.[7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/fukushu-suru-wa-ware-ni-ari)
## Reception and awards
At the 3rd Japan Academy Prizes (ceremony March 29, 1980), the film won Best Picture, Imamura won Best Director, and Baba won Best Screenplay.[5](https://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=3) It also took the Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Film and Best Director and was named Best Film by Kinema Junpo for 1979–80.[6](https://sinekatalog.com/en/films/vengeance-is-mine.html) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/fukushu-suru-wa-ware-ni-ari)
American critics treated it as a major discovery. Roger Ebert, of the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times), gave it four stars and wrote that the film "gathers fearful force."[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vengeance_is_mine_1979) Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "chilly without being austere"; the Washington Post's Paul Attanasio described Imamura as "a poet of the harsh."[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/vengeance-is-mine-1979/critic-reviews/) The BBC's Matthew Leyland judged in a later review that the film had aged superbly, its violence and insight still landing, held together by cool technique and Ogata's lead performance.[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/vengeance-is-mine-1979/critic-reviews/) Critics have connected its refusal of explanation to later fact-based crime films such as Cédric Kahn's *Roberto Succo* and Laurent Cantet's *Time Out*.[13](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/sep/09/8)
## Legacy and home video
The film is regarded as a late apotheosis of the Japanese New Wave, encapsulating the movement's concerns in a single reflexive work, and it stands as one of Imamura's most honored pictures, made a decade before he won the first of his two Cannes Palme d'Or awards for *[The Ballad of Narayama](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-ballad-of-narayama-1983-film)* (1983) and *The Eel* (1997).[12](https://mubi.com/en/films/vengeance-is-mine/critics-reviews) • [14](https://www.compalhall.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/31a0c218929a3555c6780f1f183fe772.pdf) Bong Joon-ho has publicly cited the film as an influence.[2](https://movies.shochiku.co.jp/100th/fukushusuruhawareniari/)
[The Criterion Collection](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-criterion-collection) released it on Blu-ray and DVD as Spine #384, with a restored high-definition transfer, uncompressed monaural soundtrack, a 2005 commentary by the critic Tony Rayns, and excerpts from a 1999 interview in which Imamura discussed his investigative approach to the case.[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/822-vengeance-is-mine) Saki's novel was also adapted for television in 1984 as the TBS drama *The Man Who Made 100 Million Enemies: Vengeance Is Mine*, starring Jinpachi Nezu.[16](https://www.tbs.co.jp/tbs-ch/item/d2383/)
A note on running times: Japanese sources, [Criterion](https://www.edgepedia.org/criterion), and the Guardian all list 140 minutes, while Rotten Tomatoes lists the film at 2 hours 8 minutes.[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/822-vengeance-is-mine) • [17](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/107996/vengeance.is.mine) • [9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vengeance_is_mine_1979)
## References
1. [Vengeance Is Mine, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/822-vengeance-is-mine)
2. [復讐するは我にあり, Shochiku 100th Anniversary](https://movies.shochiku.co.jp/100th/fukushusuruhawareniari/)
3. [復讐するは我にあり, Netflix Japan](https://www.netflix.com/jp/title/70067850)
4. [復讐するは我にあり, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=18956)
5. [第3回日本アカデミー賞受賞結果, Japan Academy Prize](https://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=3)
6. [Vengeance Is Mine, Sinekatalog](https://sinekatalog.com/en/films/vengeance-is-mine.html)
7. [Fukushu Suru Wa Ware Ni Ari, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/fukushu-suru-wa-ware-ni-ari)
8. [Vengeance Is Mine critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/vengeance-is-mine-1979/critic-reviews/)
9. [Vengeance Is Mine (1979), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vengeance_is_mine_1979)
10. [Vengeance Is Mine (1979) Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079182/ratings/)
11. [復讐するは我にあり, WOWOW](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/018291)
12. [Vengeance Is Mine critics reviews, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/films/vengeance-is-mine/critics-reviews)
13. [Vengeance Is Mine review, The Guardian (2005)](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/sep/09/8)
14. [第8回なつかしの映画上映会チラシ, Compal Hall](https://www.compalhall.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/31a0c218929a3555c6780f1f183fe772.pdf)
15. [今村昌平監督作品, National Film Archive of Japan](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/site2023/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/11/201001s.pdf)
16. [ザ・サスペンス「一億人を敵にした男・復讐するは我にあり」, TBS Channel](https://www.tbs.co.jp/tbs-ch/item/d2383/)
17. [Vengeance is Mine, The Guardian film page](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/107996/vengeance.is.mine)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1970s films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license