In the tradition of Seven and Silence Of The Lambs comes this genuinely spine-tingling horror/thriller from one of Japan's most talked about filmmakers, Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Set in and around a bleak, decaying Tokyo, a series of murders have been committed by average, ordinary people who claim to have had no control over their horrifying actions. Following the only link-a mysterious stranger who had brief contact with each perpetrator/victim-detective Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho, Shall We Dance, Warm Water Under A Red Bridge) places his own sanity on the line as he tries to end the wave of inexplicable terror.
(78 votes)
2.
A stunningly original take on the traditional serial killer film, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's CURE follows the determined and tortured trail of detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) as he races against time and logic to solve a baffling string of gruesome, unexplained murders. As the corpses accumulate, the only connection between the crimes is the surgically precise x-shaped wound inflicted at the throat and the mystifying fact that each killing is committed by a different party, each of whom confess immediately, unable to explain their actions. Takabe, already severely troubled by his wife's mental instability, embarks on a personal quest to understand and hopefully stop the bizarre killings. When a young and disturbingly charismatic amnesiac appears near the scene of the latest killing, the pieces of the puzzle begin to shift into place, however the picture that is revealed is no less confusing.
Evidence that a connection between the amnesiac and the killings may involve ancient rituals of hypnotism, mind control, and animal magnetism plunges Takabe into the murky world of the occult as he simultaneously projects his personal struggles with madness into his feverish quest to stop the killings. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and cinematographer Noriaki Kikumura conjure a dizzying visual and psychological maze with CURE, transcending genre conventions to craft a thriller of uncommon poetry and suspense.
(67 votes)
3.
In the hands of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a serial-killer movie is not merely a serial-killer movie. Cure doesn't so much scream and shout as drive the audience slowly crazy--much like Kurosawa's subsequent creepfests, Seance and Pulse (a.k.a. Kairo). Koji Yakusho, the happy-foot husband in Shall We Dance, plays a weary detective on a baffling murder case, which paradoxically becomes even more puzzling as the solution begins to emerge. Kurosawa's use of empty spaces, and his uncanny command of the soundtrack (the eerie collection of hums and drones would win David Lynch's approval) makes for a shivery experience... though not one interested in resolving itself in a conventional manner. And why should it? At some terrible point in this movie you realize that catching the bad guy isn't going to make Kurosawa's poisoned world any cleaner or safer. Stick with the director's elliptical style, and Cure will leave dread in its tainted wake. --Robert Horton
(68 votes)
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