Cure (2001)

What makes it different from others?

just watch it!

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Excellent and provocative outing from the likeable and intelligent, Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Made after a run of smaller 'straight to video' yakuza and the like movies, this was an early break for something better and is a great success. Staring the equally likeable Koji Yakusho, who would go on to work several times with Kurosawa, who seemed attracted partly by the fact they were the same age. The film begins and continues for some time as a beautifully shot bur scary exercise as people drop dead, seemingly inexplicably and an aura of surrealist mayhem develops. There is a slowing in proceedings while the main protagonist is investigated but interest is well maintained ahead of the fine denouement.

Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) is called upon to solve a group of inexplicable murders.The sights and sounds of this film encompass an odd sense of foreboding and despair. I watched this DVD four separate times as it had such an effect, as did several of the performances.Takabe is saddled with the additional burden of a wife with emotional problems, she has an amnesia of sorts and also is at times depressed. We see his frustration as he comes home from a long days work merely hoping to engage in conversation with her.There is a young man roaming the city who is eventually hospitalized, who incites various people to act out, or kill in a ritualistic fashion. It comes to bear that Mahimi was at one time a medical student studying the occult and hypnotism as taught by Austrian "occultist" Anton Mesmer ("Mesmerism").In Japan it is revealed this technique was called "soul conjuring" and suppressed by the Meiji Government during the late 1800's. The events unravel in a domino effect, taking you into a bizarre scenario.Overall this is an excellent film with good performances, do not mind the subtitles. I will be looking for other films by this director as well. Excellent suspense here, in American film we do not have similar, except maybe for Hitchcock. 10/10.

Cure (1997) (By Kiyoshi Kurosawa)This was a good forerunner to the films of the modern Asian horror bloom. A bleak and creepy detective horror. Sometimes it's a bit odd, with seemingly happy music playing in scenes you would associate with deep sadness or pain. And the director has a certain feeling for details that you would not expect to find in such a film, at times giving what would otherwise be very ordinary scenes a special meaning. For example when our main character takes a simple buss-ride to visit the mental hospital. It is subtle, but the way the clouds are made, as seen in the back windows of the bus, among other things, perfectly conveys the feeling of a soothing, almost a tad dreamlike journey - as a momentary break on a doomed and hopeless day... But most of the time it plays like any Asian horror film, only this one is very dark. When you watch it it's like you are helplessly confined within it's universe and there is nothing to do but submit to it and follow the story. This is why it's uncomfortable even though it's relatively light on horror or true dread, and it reminds me a lot of Kairo for this reason.In passing, the ideas and themes that it explores poses questions about our inner nature, and not least the nature of morality. It's intriguing and creepy at the same time, even if things can get a bit confusing - and i find that the film plays a lot in the dark so that can contribute to that effect as well - but hey, what Asian horror movies doesn't get a little weird? Anyway, you always roughly understand what happens however so it's no big deal.The murders are gruesome but pretty schematic. Without them it would hardly be the kind of film it is, but I feel that most of the tension in the movie derives from its main character (the detective) and his inner frustration, as well as from the "psycho"(really the mysterious Mr. X) which is the suspect he interrogates. The detective's life is a mess, his wife and love suffers from mental illness, and his job doesn't make it easy for him as it is. Be sure that the overly intelligent, illusive bad guy takes advantage of as much as he can of this. He frustrates and manipulates, but with a power over people that even Hannibal Lecter cannot compete with. But the film isn't about getting someone convicted. It explores the inexplainable, incurable evil that cannot be undone. The ending is ambiguous and we don't exactly know if things will sort out now or what will happen.A very good, dark crime horror from Kurosawa. Maybe you could call it horror for grownups? Very recommended, but expect a very slow-paced and meditative film.

I had high expectations for "Cure", partly because I'm intrigued by serial-killer stories and several people had claimed this one was even better than "Seven" and "Silence of the Lambs" (ahem!) but mostly because this movie was released shortly BEFORE the Asian horror/thriller hype forever broke loose with "Ringu". Maybe this still was an Asian thriller that is genuinely good and/or earned its cult reputation in an honest way, rather than because everyone praises it blindly? Well, the answer is yes...and no. The basic premise of "Cure" is truly compelling and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's filming style is definitely impressive, but eventually the exaggerated complexity ruins the whole lot. Just once, I'd like to see a Japanese occult-thriller that doesn't leave me scratching my head after the final denouement. Anyway, let's just focus on the first hour and the atmosphere! Fatigue copper Takabe is tormented by a mysterious series of killings in Tokyo. The culprits are always caught immediately at the scene of the crime and, even though they're seemly unrelated, they're all highly unlikely assassins and mysteriously marked their victims' bodies with a large "X". The one thing they all have in common turns out to be a brief encounter with Mr. Mamiya; an odd drifter with amnesia and a dubious past involving the study of hypnosis. "Cure" features a high tension level during the first hour (when the murders still are a giant riddle) and you also definitely sympathize with the main characters. Detective Takabe is a good man with noble ideals, the unfortunate "murderers" truly evoke feelings of compassion and Mr. Mamiya has a fascinating personality, despite his malicious (?) intentions. The acting performances are amazing and Kurosawa patiently gives his cast the opportunity to show their versatile talents. There's few explicit gore but several highly disturbing images of mutilated corpses and suicides that really aren't for the weak-hearted. The music is excellent and Kurosawa's directing is solid up until the last sequences, when he regretfully leaves too many questions unanswered and relies too much on the supernatural aspect.