Confession

The five stars are for the acting. The actors make the film watchable. But the plot is very confusing. It didn't help that I watched it on Amazon prime with the subtitles on and some of the lines are laughable. The main character is in the bath with her boyfriend talking about their problems and she says I want a curry? And it's not clear what she says when listened to again and again. This happens a few times in the film and the poor subtitle person has just blagged it. As a plan it goes to plan but what an elaborate plan! In real life everything would not happen according to plan which makes the film seem unrealistic when the reason the film is presented at the end shows it is based on a very real problem of the police not believing a female rape victim. However the amount of time dedicated to that issue in the film is short and the storyline is weak as far as portraying that. I felt too much time was also given to actions rather than letting the viewer get to know the characters names and associate them with their names. So when they are killed it did not really resonate with me who they were. The filming is ok but I do think the story could have been told better and more believably.

Law & Order: SVU has done multiple versions of this narrative conceit over its multiple years on the air. SVU's versions all run a standard 44 minutes and all are told with terse character building, momentum, a few investigative dead ends, and a generally satisfying conclusion.

Confession takes a polar opposite approach. It is obvious from the get-go, moves at a glacial pace, talks the viewer's ear off to no revelatory end, is repetitive, filled with detectives, prosecutors, and lawyers who do and say very stupid things, and winds up where it began -- on a bridge to a conclusion that's been traversed countless times. Needless to say, the issue under discussion is important; the execution and storytelling lackluster.