Cure Reviews

• Brilliant.

  
  By A2EDZH51XHFA9B on 2004-05-20
  Kyua (Kyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)

  Veteran director Kyoshi Kurosawa (Serpent's Path, the recently-optioned Pulse) weighs in with this 1997 offering, and the best way to describe it is giallo gone Yakuza. It has all the highlights of good giallo, from an overly gory mystery storyline to broad cinematic shots in the best Argento style to characters who sometimes just say the silliest things imaginable to one particular plot twist that makes absolutely no sense to anyone until you've seen the movie fifty times. And with the Japanese so much farther out on the bleeding edge of extreme horror than the Italians these days, you can bet a Japanese giallo is going to be two hours of bang-up knockdown bloody fun. And oh, my, it is.

  Cure (the English title) revolves around a series of brutal murders with one thing in common: the throat of each victim is slashed in a large X. Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho of Tampopo, Warm Water Under a Red Bridge, etc.), the inspector assigned to the murders, soon discovers that they all seem to center around an odd amnesiac (Masato Hagiwara). He's not the murderer, but each one of the murderers-yes, they're all different people-came into contact with him not long before killing their victims.

  While the style is giallo all the way, the pacing is Japanese New Horror. Kurosawa starts things off in the nastiest way possible, then gives us the finding of the amnesiac and some buildup in the characters of Kenichi and his reluctant partner in this, Makoto Sakuma (Tsuyoshi Ujiki of The Eight-Tomb City and Full metal Yakuza fame) before the murders kick off again and everything rolls into high gear. There are more than enough snippets to satisfy gorehounds and a fine, albeit slowly-paced, mystery for fans of more explicit mysteries (I'm sure I'm not the only one who spent the latter half of the film drawing comparisons to Silence of the Lambs). But the true fanatic audience of this film are going to be the giallo lovers, those who eagerly await every new film from Dario Argento. For them, Kurosawa is sure to be a fantastic find. Hopefully, everyone else will come up to speed eventually (perhaps when the American version of Pulse, directed by... ulp... Wes Craven, is released next year). *** ½
  
  

• How Can You Be Guilty If You've No Idea You Did It?

  
  By AYG1U47VFZ165 on 2004-02-06
  CURE is an entirely engrossing cop procedural drama coupled with more than just a healthy hint of THE X FILES that scores kudos for its relentlessly plotted creepiness tied to the intensity of the murders.

  Inspector Takabe and Criminal Psychologist Sakuma believe they are on the growing trail of a serial killer forcing others to commit grisly murders, but one fact doesn't add up: the killers have no recollection of what they've done. Enter Mamiya, a psychology student turned 'mesmerist' who plants suggestions in the mind -- latent impulses upon which everyone he comes into contact with will eventually act upon.

  Vindicated by his capture, Takabe and Sakuma begin their quest to understand how Mamiya has accomplished what he's done, risking both their lives and sanity in order to bring the entire bloody affair to an end.

  Extremely well done and grippingly paced, CURE is a great flick to pop in and sit ready to pull the covers up over your eyes!
  
  

• Intelligent Psychological Thiller

  
  By A2JZ0W1Y2EML1L on 2005-10-06
  Kurosawa has mastered the art of creating inherently disturbing images. From the opening scene to the end credits, every image and sound presented, impeccably timed, has been carefully calculated and sculpted to present the viewer with the devastating horror of the unknowable. Echos of Jungian psychology abound, this film achieves a level of intelligent discourse almost unheard of in the genre. If you are looking for cheap, wanton slaughter, then this film is definitely not for you. But if you are looking for a haunting, well conceived and executed film on the level of Vertigo, then this film is definitely a must.
  
  

• Brilliant filmmaking....

  
  By A2UYAFQ40U2PHS on 2006-12-12
  I really love this film. I love horror films that get into your head quietly, and then stay there for days. This film is one of those films. It's similar in tone and style to Kwaidan, Vampyr, and The Sixth Sense. The director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, directs the film with a beautiful langorous pace, with very long takes, incredible atmosphere, a superbly renedered soundtrack, understated performances, and a very ambiguous plot. It's nice to see a horror film without gratuitous gore, stupid teenage characters, idiotic language, and plot holes that are there because the writers/director are lazy, not because they're trying to be ambiguous. Some people haven't liked this film very much, arguing that it was too boring and vague. It's supposed to be ambiguous and vague; that's what makes it as good as it is.
  
  

• "Sometimes A Crime Has No Meaning": Brilliant And Mesmerizing Film!

  
  By A2F5PAC9I5SCG6 on 2006-12-16
  "Cure," by director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is one of the most intelligent and brilliant thrillers I have seen in some time. In fact, this is one of the best I have ever seen. This is a film that takes patience, however, it is a rewarding experience to view such a masterfully directed film that makes you think. This is not a mindless and directionless film as so many in the horror/thriller genre are. No, this film is a thinking film. The reviewer Wheelchair Assassin described it as "three exists past brilliant" and he is correct. The film opens with what appears to be a normal man on his way home from work. Picking up a prostitute, he later bludgeons her to death. Not content to merely kill her, he sets about placing and X carving into her body. But why? What has this woman done to him to warrant such a horrible act? Moreover, the murderer hardly knew his victim and he had no reason to kill her.
  
  Enter detective Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho) who has been investigating a series of grisly and bizarre murders, where each of the victims have had an 'X' cut into their bodies after they have been killed. What do each of these victims have in common with their killers? That is what Detective Takabe is trying to discover. Moreover, what makes the murders so bizarre is that all of the murderer's are found close to the crime scene. Plus, all of the murders have nothing in common except the 'X' carved on their bodies. Detective Takabe (Koji Yakushi) begins to explore a possible connection to the killers and a third party involved. Nothing about the killings make sense, however, Detective Takabe believes that each of the murders are linked together somehow. And with this, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa takes the viewer into an unsettling and mind boggling world of suspense.
  
  Detective Takabe teams up with Makato Sakuma (Tsuyoshi Ujiki) who is a clinical psychologist. The atmosphere in the film is terrific and suspenseful, as Takabe himself is going through his own personal problems. While detective Takabe believes that there is a hypnotist behind these killings, he has a hard time convincing Dr. Sakuma. Dr. Sakuma believes that there is no connection, and even tells the detective that "Sometimes a crime has no meaning." Sakuma informs Detective Takabe that it would take a genius to do such an act. Plus, what would be the purpose of such a terrible crime. Vanity perhaps? Or something more sinister? This is where the viewer is introduced to Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara). Not much is known about Mamiya other than he is a former psychology student who has studied the writings of Mesmer, an 18th-century Austrian doctor, who first theorized about the use of hypnotism. I am not giving anything away in this, as the film explores this in the beginning as the viewer is introduced to Mamiya.
  
  Detective Takabe knows that Mamiya has had some interaction with most of the killers. However, how is Mamiya able to get others to kill? This film comes at you from all angles: Suspenseful, atmospheric, creepy, nuanced, everything I like about thrillers. And this is what makes this film so great, in that there is the ever present suspense and the constant buildup of the unknown made known, and made unknown again. What is Mamiya's reasons behind his actions? He has amnesia and as such, has no recollection what he is doing. Or does he? And for that matter, is he the only one behind these hypnotic killings. This film is very ambiguous and will not hand you the answers to all the questions you seek. And I liked this aspect of the film. I will not give out anything in this film which will ruin the viewing experience for those who have not seen it, but the beginning, middle and ending are great. The whole film is suspenseful and atmospheric in every way. There are more questions than answers in this terrific thriller.
  
  When Sakuma eventually comes to the conclusion that Mamiya poses a danger to detective Takabe and others, he warns the detective to stay away from the suspect. But is there more to Detective Takabe than Sakuma realizes? Furthermore, is it Sakuma who is in more danger from Mamiya? Or is there someone else who poses a greater threat to him? I find each time I view this film, I have more answers than I had the first time. I believe I know what occurs in the ending, and why, and yet I am not 100 percent sure. And maybe thats a good thing. As I wrote earlier, this is a thinking persons thriller/suspense film.
  
  As Detective Takabe and the psychologist Sukuma begin to unravel the mystery surrounding Mamiya they come away with more questions that answers. This is a very intelligently done film, and probably Kurosawa's best to date. The films creepy atmosphere, and great soundtrack really enhance the film. This film is not about gratuitous violence and gore. Moreover, if ambiguity is not one of those traits in films you like, then this may not be the film for you. However, I recommend that you rent the film and see if it is your kind of film. I believe it is one of the greatest crime thrillers I have ever seen. I would have given this film 5 stars, but each time I have done so, only 4 stars show up on the review. This is a 5-star film, and it is highly, highly recommended. [Stars: 5]
  
  
• boat ride on the river Lethe
  By A3893KXIFVM11N on 2006-10-09
  This one'll scare your scarf off, and you'll be very cold. "Charisma" is a (semi-official?) sequel of sorts...
  
  Where are you?
  
  
• creepy and disturbing masterpiece
  By A2CYJNYH53JMKD on 2004-02-17
  This is a serial killer movie, but unlike any you have ever seen before. Before watching this, you should know a few things:

  1) It has been compared to a lot of movies, but any resemblance to any of these other movies is brief and superficial in many cases, as this film charts a course of its own.

  2) This film proceeds at a deliberate pace. It takes its time developing the story; viewing it requires patience and constant attention. This is not a movie for the attention-deficit crowd.

  3) The movie is one big jigsaw puzzle. Virtually every scene is an important piece of the puzzle, and you have to figure out where it fits in. As I said, it requires constant attention and analysis.

  4) The last scene in the restaurant is very important. I am not giving anything away by saying that the main person in this scene does something he has never done before, and that this is an important clue. I am also not giving anything away by saying watch what the person in the background does in the last two seconds before the credits roll, as this is also an important clue. Once you have begun to unravel the secrets of this movie, the rest is easy. It may take two or three viewings before things become clear, but the effort is worth it. This is a movie that really gets under your skin, and the more you figure out what is going on, the creepier it gets.
  
  

• About three exits past brilliant
  By A3N5XIM9R2OQH0 on 2005-09-20
  Who are we?
  
  That's the nagging question posed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure, or more specificially by its uber-enigmatic antagonist, Mamiya. Sure, we all have some ways of defining ourselves-our names, our jobs, our beliefs-but do they really capture who we are? Is that all we are--the sum of our views, actions, and motivations? Is there a real you beyond all that, something that can't be classified easily if at all? That's why it takes on such significance when Mamiya asks people to tell him who they are: they generally don't have an answer beyond their occupation, and he's looking to probe a lot deeper.
  
  Inquiries and insights into the workings of the human mind are at the heart of Cure, a creepy-crawly little flick that should stick in your head well after you're through viewing it. Part psychological thriller, part atmospheric horror piece, and part cop movie, Cure boasts a level of emotional depth and complexity well beyond most anything coming out of Hollywood these days, although from what I've heard and seen it's not all that unusual by Japanese standards. Those who liked David Fincher's Seven and Takashi Miike's Audition oughtta love this one. Anyway, this movie manages to pack a considerable mental wallop, due in no small part to its oppressive visuals and unconventional narrative rhythms. While Kurosawa's pacing is somewhat less hasty than what those raised on mainstream American cinema are probably accustomed to, that's by design: Cure burns slowly, gradually burrowing its way into your consciousness, with the occasional shocking image thrown in to keep the audience on its collective toes.
  
  The movie opens with exactly one such image--a perfectly normal looking Japanese man strolls into a subway tunnel, graps a length of pipe, and shortly thereafter beats an anonymous woman to death with it in a hotel room. It's then that things get a little weird, as detective Takabe (a suitably intense Koji Yakusho) quickly finds the perp huddled naked and quivering in the hallway. Apparently, while the killer was very much aware of what he was doing--you'd have to be to carve a perfect "X" pattern in the victim's throat and upper chest--his motive was a complete mystery even to him. It just felt like the appropriate thing to do at the time, he says.
  
  This wasn't exactly an isolated incident either, as similar acts of butchery have been gripping the Tokyo area for months, all involving a similar set of circumstances--normal, sane, assailants; no apparent motive; that decidedly unsettling "X" pattern; and most interestingly, it eventually emerges, contact with a mysterious stranger with amnesia to go with his inquisitive streak. This stranger, of course, is the aforementioned Mamiya, an ex-psychology student and authority on the tactics of Mesmer, the 18th-century Austrian doctor who pioneered the study of hypnotism. Mamiya is surely one of the more intriguing cinematic villains of recent times, partly because of his unthreatening demeanor, partly because he gets others to do his dirty work, partly just because Masato Hagiwara plays him in such an eerie fashion. When a shrink studying his case says Mamiya has a "very complex personality", he's putting it mildly--this guy's a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a sweater.
  
  Although the identity and technique of the "killer" are quickly apparent--so I'm not spoiling anything when I say Mamiya is hypnotizing people into committing acts of wanton butchery--there's still plenty of mystery to unravel, most of it of the mental sort. Much of the film's dramatic momentum comes from the tension and conflict between the two principals, as the the cat-and-mouse game between Takabe and Mamiya is just beginning when Mamiya is apprehended. Takabe, who's got some personal issues of his own owing to a mentally ill wife, is all grit and determination, getting in further and further over his head as he struggles to explain the inexplicable, propelled by a strange mix of revulsion and fascination for his quarry. Mamiya, for his part, is literally soulless, an empty vessel that reflects others' inner demons right back at them with a combination of probing questioning and flickering, hypnotic images. Watching Mamiya work his magic on a pretty young female doctor is downright chilling, especially given its bloody denouement after he gets through. And as much as he may not want to, Takabe eventually comes to a sort of understanding of Mamiya, who manages to get past even the detective's stiff veneer of steely resolve in one especially memorable scene.
  
  In the end, Cure provides more questions than answers, even as its final acts delve into the mysteries of Mamiya's identity and the origins of hypnotism. That may be the point, though--I think Kurosawa intended this movie to unsettle viewers, to challenge perceptions, and to leave us hanging at the conclusion. As one character says early on, the motivations of criminals are rarely obvious, and Cure maintains that air of ambiguity until its very end. Perhaps some things really can't be explained, and we should leave it at that.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Cure -- A chilling cinematic experience
  By A6ADO7B6FUVN on 2004-04-23
  A series of grisly murders are committed and they are linked as all victims have a deep "X" cut into their throats. There are strange circumstances with each murder as the murderer is found close to the crime site, and none of the murderers have anything linked to the other besides the carved "X" in the throat. Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakush) is the detective in charge of the murder investigations and he suspects that the "X" is linked to each murder, but there is no physical evidence to confirm his suspicions. Detective Takabe has help from Makoto Sakuma (Tsuyoshi Ujiki), a clinical psychiatrist, in order to uncover the malevolent truth behind the murderers. Takabe is also suffering from the hardships of having a sick wife and being overworked. These two factors begin to affect Takabe's life and his feelings as he is becoming more involved in the macabre investigations.

  Cure provides a suspenseful atmosphere as it dives into the human psyche. This atmosphere is skillfully created by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who opens the door to notions of amnesia, personality disorders, interpersonal relationships, and fear. These psychological aspects are meticulously dissected by Kurosawa as he tells his story about the detective Takabe and his problems with his job and private life. In the end, Cure offers a suspenseful and absorbing cinematic experience.
  
  

• Disease
  By A2HII4U9WQ0XUV on 2004-11-16
  Kiyoshi Kurosawa's tight, mesmerizing, brutal little puzzle-box of a horror-film "Cure" ("Kyua") deserves the highest praise I can offer: as jaded as I am, it thoroughly creeped me out, sent me to bed at 4 in the morning, and gave me a door-prize in the form of a shivery, watery little nightmare (the first I've had in about two years).
  
  I am in awe of director Kurosawa.
  
  I am in awe of this marvellous little masterwork of grue and madness. Like "Cure"'s stoic, besieged Detective Takabe (a note-perfect role turned in by the masterful Koji Yakusho, at once world-weary, doggedly determined, and compulsive): I am repelled *and* compelled. I am simultaneously revulsed and fascinated.
  
  Did I mention that "Cure" is really one of the scariest, nastiest, most terrifying little creep-fests I have ever had the delight to watch?
  
  Be warned: "Cure" does not milk its scares with sudden jump-shocks, like its more familiar (to American audiences) "Ringu" and "Ju-On" have done. Not that there's anything wrong with either of those movies, but "Cure" isn't that type of film; its horrors are far more subtle but infinitely more disturbing. It doesn't work on jump-scares; it doesn't need to.
  
  I have written that the most effective Asian horror films (as well as a few of Miike's horror-Yakuza movies) possess a kind of "viral" quality. Like a virus, the danger is exposure, and as a victim you don't know exactly when you're infected. Like a virus, the symptoms aren't immediately apparent: the virus burrows into one cell, eats it alive, explodes its cell walls, sends out a burst of colonial spores. Your body and mind are turned against you, turned into a factory producing more of the virus, and you explode outwards, infecting the trusting, helpless, unwitting hordes around you.
  
  OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but I think "Cure" is very viral: Kurosawa and Director of Photography guru Tokushu Kikimura (who has since done the cinematography for "Ringu" director Hideo Nakata's "Chaos" as well as both "Ju-On" outtings with Takashi Shimizu) turn all their art, and all their cinematic arsenal, on besieging the unwitting viewer, on assaulting the senses---but my God, with such subtlety that you never realize you're under siege until it's too late!
  
  The plot is spare enough and Kurosawa gets right to work on conjuring up madness and alienation: we walk alongside a Tokyo businessman through a dim stretch of pedestrian tunnel. He wrenches part of an iron-handrail from its casement as the neon tunnel lights hiss and flicker. Later, he paces out of his apartment's bathroom, and uses the bludgeon on his wife; the police find him huddled and gibbering in one of the building's supply cabinets.
  
  So here we have it: Tokyo has been ravaged by a string of brutal and supposedly unrelated serial murders, the victims slaughtered and an "X" carved into their throats. The catch: the killers are all unrelated, and from a wide range of professions---and with no criminal records.
  
  There is one connection: each of the victims had brief contact with an unassuming young man, an amnesiac named Kunio Mamiya (played here by the accomplished and full-bore creepy Masato Hagiwara). Detective Takabe, beset with his own problems (including an amnesiac wife), leads the interrogation of Mamiya, and what follows is an intense, gruelling game of psychological cat-and-mouse that makes the intellectual swordfight between Hannibal Lecter and Agent Starling from "Silence of the Lambs" look like a playground fight between spoiled toddlers.
  
  Kurosawa works his sorcery on a palette of silence---that is, he understands the role silence itself plays in making the mind receptive to true horror. "Cure" is fascinated by hypnosis, by mental suggestion, by mesmerism; the sinister Mamiya, himself a human tabula rasa, studies Mesmer and uses a lighter to lead his victims?---accomplices?---students?---into the darkness. Like hypnosis, Kurosawa dominates his audience by degrees, by insinuation, by stealth.
  
  The world of "Cure" is equally sick: this is a film of long silent stretches broken up by whispered dialogue, by ominous, guttural, industrial groans that are nearly subliminal. It is a world of rotten, derelict warehouses, dirty restrooms, and anonymous apartment tower blocks; of tomb-like pedestrian tunnels and concrete urban hellscapes, studded with blast furnaces and crumbling, diseased factories.
  
  The danger of "Cure" is alienation, of losing oneself in the industrial wilderness. "Who are you?" asks our villain, plaintively---but insidiously. Masato Hagiwara is brilliant as the enigmatic Mamiya: he would confound Socrates with his endless questions. But he plays the role as a canny predator: watch how quickly his aimless little stream of harmless questions turns into a flood, and turns the tables on his interrogators.
  
  "Cure" has inevitably been compared with American serial-killer classics like "Silence of the Lambs" and "Se7en": the comparison is unfair to those films and does a monstrous disservice to "Cure", which has its own wicked melody to sing in the darkness. For unlike its Western cousins in bloodletting, whose monsters are ultimately packaged up for analysis and rational experimentation, the monster in "Cure" stays in its box long enough---and only because it wants---to fool its prey.
  
  Sweet dreams.
  
  
• Yes, it's worth it
  By A584ZLZUF8E2X on 2004-02-26
  Cure is that good. No use repeating all the reasons, which are covered in other reviews. The highest compliment I can give Cure is that it stays with you after you leave the theater. Let's face it, for experienced viewers most horror movies - at best - provide modest suspense and a few jolts, and are forgotten by the time you leave the theater.

  Cure will stay with you.
  
  

• mesmerizing . . .
  By A3LPD7NTGFH7V4 on 2005-07-13
  Cure is probably one of the best films in the new wave of Asian/Japanese horror although it isn't straight forward horror. This is more of a psychological/supernatural suspense thriller. The plot has already been discussed in other reviews. All I can say is it's a very creepy film that sucks you in and doesn't let you out of its grasp until the final shocking frame. Watch this a couple of times and it all comes together. My only beef with the film is in some scenes when the police officer or the psychiatrist are investigating, they flip through lots of books and newspaper clippings written in Japanese. However, none of what they're looking at is translated or subtitled for our understanding. I believe huge amounts of the plot were revealed in these moments but unless you're able to read kanji or whatnot it's a loss. Outside of that this is an outstanding film.
  
  
• engimatic, dark and utterly disturbing
  By on 2004-01-13
  I have to chime in with those here who rate this as a modern masterpiece. I especially have to echo one reviewer's comments that "a film like this would only work if everything was done perfectly, and it is" (paraphrasing). Yes and yes. It absolutely is, I can't find a single false move. Towards the end I was starting to cringe, knowing that Kiyoshi would probably take the easy way out and break the steadily-building dread & ambiguity. He doesn't. He builds it all the way to the end, and then caps it off with a final shot that is liable to leave me mystified for years to come. Some people will not "get" this film. They will froth & fume, and claim that there's no easy explanation, no clarifying revelation here to bring everything into the brightness of day & banish the uncertainty. These viewers should do themselves a favor and stick to Freddy/Jason flicks, where easily-digestible horror film cliches can be found in abundance. Cure is that rare spell-binding work that finds a new form to express more vividly the ambiguities of life, identity, and morality. It doesn't strike me as having been a priori a horror film, but rather a very clever philosophical one that along the way exposes something already horrific there in the society we live in.

  A smooth, controlled descent into madness, one of the most haunting films I've seen.
  
  

• Horrible
  By A1Q8FY562L2E7L on 2005-10-03
  I got this movie because of all the good reviews it received, and it's suppose to be an Asian horror film, or so it's categorized under. After watching it I was thoroughly disappointed. The movie didn't make much sense at all. There were random dead monkeys around, and the ending was even more confusing. I've seen my share of weird Asian horror films, but this was just lame. There was no resolve or much less a real plot to think over.
  
  
• Not a Ringu rip-off...
  By APL82HNPG1GQU on 2004-01-21
  To the moronic reviewer and the people that mistakedly marked the release date of this film as 2001, Cure is not a Ringu rip off at all. If anything, Ringu's style was ripped off from Cure (both are great films in my opinion). Cure was released in 1997 (Ringu in '98) and garnered international recognition for now-famed director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The film isn't really horror or suspense as much as it is simply a look into the human mind. The cast does a wonderful job, and the direction is top notch. I recommend it.
  
  
• great movie The Cure
  By ALL0FUR61FN8J on 2005-05-27
  Kiyoshi Kurosawa's moody, dark look at copycat murders in Japan is considered by many to be his greatest achievement, but Cure requires extreme patience to accept its languid style of storytelling. Furthermore, the effort proves somewhat futile when the viewer finds that there is little to relate to in the story: while the director's tone has an abundance of atmosphere and a few quality chills, there isn't much humanity, and the terror-laden subject doesn't resonate quite the way it should. Koji Yakusho elevates the difficult narrative with a believable portrayal of a conflicted man consumed by his work, but the character's motives remain puzzling - which may indeed be the film's point but is dissatisfying nonetheless.
  
  
• One of the most apathetic movies I've seen in years.
  By A2DW2KWS2RFT5F on 2005-12-20
  Although apparently a minority opinion, I found this film exceedingly boring and disappointing. Basically there was no plot, more of a scenario that gets played out over and over again with no change, development or sense of forward motion. Some good aesthetics but that (IMHO) isn't enough to carry a movie. It is vague enough that you can read pretty much whatever you want into it, but you'll have to invest a lot of your own energies to do this b/c the film doesn't give you much of substance to work with. Recently saw "Pulse" also, written and directed (I believe) by the same person. I found it very similar in tone, slow, vague, pieces not connecting, with some bad acting thrown in for good measure.
  
  
• perfect
  By on 2004-01-07
  Cure is the perfect horror movie; the only one I've yet seen. That's an odd thing to say about a movie that isn't exactly scary at any given moment, but it's true. Cure's power lies in the cumulative impact of the movie as a whole; halfway through I was thinking "Is this it? Where can this really go from here?" but later as the credits rolled I was overcome with dread. Cure manages the near-impossible; it starts with a mysterious situation and makes it more and more mysterious the more you find out about it. You're always given just enough information to suggest something unspeakable (and unfilmable) beneath the surface - the movie pushes you right up to the edge of an abyss, without ever seeming to show you the abyss itself, but at the end it becomes apparent that the movie - and you - have at some point been swallowed whole by it without even noticing. It's hard to explain to someone who's never seen it; suffice it to say it's a stunning and singular achievement. I know the movie doesn't seem to affect some people much, and this seems to have tagged it in some quarters as a would-be horror movie for intellectuals who look down their noses at "real" horror movies. To which I can only say: I watched this without any expectations, good or bad, and my reaction was totally from-the-gut. This movie got inside me in a way in a way more traditionally "scary" movies never have. Every moment is perfectly judged; this movie could only work if it never put a foot wrong, and amazingly, it never does. See it. See it alone. Give it your undivided attention. Kurosawa has achieved a cinematic perfection exceeding anything the other (great) Kurosawa ever made. I am not exaggerating. This is one for the ages.
  
  
• An unusual pattern of murder.
  By A15G57AIKJ5PRQ on 2001-07-29
  People are turning up dead, and the murders are connected by a similarity in the mutilation of the corpses. However, each murder seems to have been committed by a different person--a person who, in some cases, was a close relative or acquaintance of the victim. Eventually the police discover that an amnesiac man has turned up at many of the murder sites. This man, though, seems to have neither long-term nor short-term memories; he often cannot remember a question long enough to answer it. A certain police detective Katabe follows a trail to uncover the man's dangerous secrets, and he risks getting far more involved than he should.
  
  "Cure" treads similar psychic territory to "The Cell" and "Paperhouse" while avoiding the shared-dream phenomenon and relying on imagery which is much more subtle and often more effective. The director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, is consistently elliptical in his methods--meaning that he leaves certain gaps in the film and invites the audience to fill them in. Well-considered ingenuity is good, but abstraction taken to the point of chaos is bad. When it comes to imagery, Kurosawa's elliptical method compliments his audience, assuming that people can make certain necessary logical deductions, associating visual cues with their psychic equivalent. But when this technique is applied to plot, things get a little messy. Something is definitely wrong when, even after the film is finished, the audience has to wonder: When did this particular event occur? Who caused it? Did it really happen or not? Such questions plague the film's ending, and confusion in a plot-dependent film is, quite obviously, bad.
  
  Regardless of its flaws, "Cure" is a welcome addition to the genre for its spare use of graphic imagery and for the attitude of intellectual respect Kurosawa shows his audience.
  
  
• Thought Provoking Stuff
  By A1A16K0RXABIMG on 2003-12-29
  I ran into Cure on the Independent Film Channel whilst laying in bed channel surfing one night, and was hooked. I purchased a crap copy off of ebay because I couldn't stand telling friends "you gotta see this movie that's... well... unavailable here in the US."
  I'm so pleased to see that it's finally getting a proper stateside release (as opposed to being held up by a Hollywood hijacking a la Rungu/Ring), and I'll be grabbing my official copy immediately.

  Cure is a flick that'll either bore the pants off of you, or make your brain hurt a bit. If you're not the sort who's interested in being challenged by a film, pass on this one. If, on the other hand, you don't particularly care for being spoonfed, this may well be the movie for you.

  One quick rebuttal (and a potential *spoiler*) for the review that cites "gratuitous violence" in this flick:
  The moments of violence portrayed in this movie are blunt; devoid of any stylized Bad Boys bang-pow soulessness. Cure's lensing of a pipe bludgeoning, for instance, is wince inducing because it's so stark and matter-of-fact; it feels like a frighteningly accurate representation of the act. Watching it can't help but remind you that what just occurred is indeed brutal. I appreciated the honesty, and would rather more movies go this route than continue with the cartoonish guiltless-carnage that permeates so much of Hollywood. Perhaps we've become numb to the fact that a-killin' is supposed to be ugly, and it's gratuitous when directors NEGLECT to depict it so.
  
  

• LAME - ringu rip-off (why would anyone think this is scary??
  By on 2004-01-12
  Astonishing. This film has not one original or interesting idea it it. There is absolutely nothing frightening about this movie.

  A detective's investigation of a series of killings leads him to a young psychology student with amnesia who seems to be hypnotising people into commiting the crimes (don't worry, I'm not giving anything away. This is all revealed in the first fifteen minutes).

  This young man is supposed to be kind of ominious but he is actually just annoying. He answers every question asked of him with a question. He constantly asks "who are you" to everyone he meets.

  Kurosawa appears to be attempting some sort of social commentary about the possibilities of a latent serial killer inside each one of us, but it just doesn't work. Nothing in the movie works on any level. Everything in the film appears to be build up towards a big revelation but the revelation never comes.

  A big bummer. Very disappointing. Why anyone would find this film scary is beyond me. The villain is a wimp. The plot inconclusive. The imagery banal. Yuck. Boredom.
  
  

• Is a thriller that isn't fun still categorized a thriller?
  By ATXO4UA7N1HDC on 2001-11-03
  This Japanese independent film, I believe, is the only independent film of the summer that I truly disliked. The movie revolves around a serial killer with the power to control minds to do his killing. I might have liked it if it weren't so long and repetitive, (one killing after another with almost no further plot development- not a good thing when dealing with repetition), and maybe had some three dimensional characters. Unfortunately, the gratuitous violence, which I can rarely, but this time, honestly say, is gratuitous, doesn't make up for the movie's lack of energy, rhythm, or characters, not to mention the far-fetched plot that would have required an ounce of creativity to pull off.
  
  
• A real masterpiece
  By A3MLO4GAD2O9DL on 2001-11-20
  The serial killer movie has by now been done to death (so to speak), so it's especially rewarding to see this assured film that takes a truly ingenious approach. Kurosawa's protagonist is a seemingly dazed young man who, in spite of his aimless demeanor, is a master hypnotist. To reveal any more of what happens would be to give a bit too much away.

  The subtlety and fluidity of this film is remarkable. The main character can be charming and simultaneously irritating when he speaks. He turns his speaking partner's question back on the speaker; he answers with vague phrases that nevertheless, over the course of the film, gradually bring out the complexity of his psyche. Pitting him against a cop whose wife seems to suffer from something like the hypnotist's 'brand' of mental wanderings underlines the thematic context of the film: what we know is almost certainly only what we think we know. And what we think we know is almost certainly based on someone else's 'knowledge', derived the same as ours.

  That knowledge is a collective phenomenon, a shared and critical feature of the 'hive' is not a novel concept in film. But its presentation here is bold and original. To link that idea with a person who destroys life is a master stroke; it says that what we know vanishes in a suddenly extinguished flame, or a tiny stream of water that appears, runs, and then is seen no more.

  This is a film that should definitely be added to the great films of the 90s. Since it was not released in the U.S. until 2001, I vote for it being one of the great films of that year here.
  
  

• There is no cure
  By A2B8GXSCB1R05T on 2005-03-29
  Kurosawa. If you are a director, and that is your name, then you automatically have a lot to live up to, even if there is no relation. This is the case of Kurosawa Kiyoshi, who shares neither blood nor style with the late master Kurosawa Akira, but definitely does justice to the famous name.
  
  This film, "Cure" ("Kyua"), is Kurosawa's take on the intense serial killer psycho-drama. In the lineage of "Se7en" and "Silence of the Lambs," "Cure" has a focused, dangerous killer dragging a drowning detective along on his spree. A sequence of murders, each unrelated save for an "X" carved in the victim's neck, and the killers having no memory of the event, nor motive nor intent, sets the stage for the drama. Slowly, bit by bit, the detective begins to relate to and identify with the killer. In Kurosawa's unique twist, the killer is a psychic "Patient Zero," who infects innocents with the desire to kill. An amnesiac, Mamiya wanders from place to place, never knowing where he is, or the people whose lives he destroys.
  
  Kôji Yakusho ("Shall We Dance?"), playing detective Kenichi Takabe, delivers a perfect performance as a world-weary man, going through the motions of being married, having a job, etc... He is just the man to stalk Mamiya, tracking his crimes with an emotionless detachment. Masato Hagiwara's serial killer Mamiya is played with equal verve, drifting from moment to moment with no memory, no place in reality.
  
  Aside from the story, "Cure" is about style. Kurosawa has made this world bleak and industrial, with a thrumming mechanical vibe and a music-less background. He has learned his lesson well from fellow Japanese director Kitano Takeshi, as the violence is sharp and punctuated. There is no over-the-top dramatic slayings such as "Se7en." Mimiya is no Batman villain with a code-name and a gimmick. Instead, the killings are harshly realistic, done in the way you might kill the person dearest to you, if you were suddenly infected with Mimiya's madness.
  
  The pace is slow and Japanese as well, as is the vagueness of the overall story. In Japanese tradition, there is less of a need for clear answers and tight endings. The overall mood is more important than closure. Kurosawa has given us a complete package, a series of slow build-ups and sudden endings, then a distant fade off the last note. Like Japanese music, the silences are as important as the cymbal crashes.
  
  Kurosaway Kiyoshi is definitely a director to watch out for. And "Cure" is an excellent film.
  
  
• 4.5 Slow, but intriguing and powerful
  By ANBQIWHO9JRFS on 2005-04-09
  I haven't been really, really scared by a horror film in a couple years now, but some of them can be pretty damn unnerving. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 'Cure' is about as distressing and unsettling as any horror movie I've seen in a long time. Of course, this isn't a conventional horror film by any stretch of the imagination. Indeed, there really aren't any conventional horror setpieces, and the aftermath of the violence is shown far more often then the violence itself. Still, the ideas and the unrelenting, oppressive mood of the film more than make up for the relative lack of visceral and visual horror. On a superficial level, it resembles your typical Hollywood thriller, but that would be misleading and a grave disservice to the film. It doesn't cleanly fall into any category, which naturally makes the film more effective. 'Cure', honestly, could've been cut a bit w/o losing much, but its charms are rare and powerful, which more then makes up for these minor concerns.
  
  In `Cure' Detective Takabe is investigating a series of gruesome murders, where the victims each have an `X' slashed into their throat. Naturally, these crimes would seem to be connected, except that in each case the killer is different, and is found not far away from the crime scene, in a disoriented state. They generally seem to be regular people, and none of them can explain precisely why they committed the crime. (One says, simply, `It seemed the natural thing to do, at the time) Beyond his professional concerns, Takabe is an angry, volatile individual with an uncomfortable home life, partially due to his wife, who suffers from some mental illness effecting her memory. Scenes involving the detection are intertwined with scenes following the man apparently responsible for killings, an amnesiac named Mamiya. How Mamiya insights the killings is somewhat uncertain, as he simply converses with the would be killer, constantly repeating questions and probing at them. It's hard to say why, but these scenes are fascinating and disturbing. We see three of them, in short order, learning more of his method each time, and though they are slow and a bit repetitive, they're powerful, necessary scenes, and definitely some of the best in the movie. (The first one is probably the standout scene for the whole film)
  
  Koji Yakusho and Masato Hagiwara and both excellent as the cop and the killer, respectively. Hagiwara is quite creepy, with his slow, deliberate actions and his vaguely disconnected mannerism. Yakusho could have been you're typical angry, tough cop, but he gives his character genuine pathos by underlining his violence with real frustration and desperation. We can't fully understand why Takabe is so close to the edge, but we definitely believe it.
  
  Atmospheric though this film is, the direction is fairly low-key. Kurosawa utilizes lots of long takes, letting the action slowly unfold before us, with lots of deliberate dialogue ad very little music. The camera angles are usually basic, straightforward and at about head or chest level, and usually not too close, creating a distance and coldness between the viewer and the action. Though this basic style works for atmospheric purposes, it isn't exactly all that interesting looking, which , combined with the relative lack of a plot, makes the second half of the film drag a bit at times. Still, their are some powerful images, such as a mysterious, electrocuted monkey and a gruesome scene where one of the killers attempts to remove a flap of flesh from the neck their victim, indifferent to her being observed by a horrified onlooker.
  
  `Cure' is a socially concious film, though not in an excessively overt manner.Thematically, `Cure' seems concerned with the hollow, projected nature of the modern man. It appears that Mamiya is able to incite the killings by cutting through external defense of his victims, exposing how their external identity is not related to their true nature. (This is particularly appropriate, because as an amnesiac, Mamiya has no projected nature. Society cannot define him, because he doesn't know who society says he has to be.) Takabe is the perfect opponent for Mamiya, as he is hollow, but he realizes this, and hates it, rather then accepting it passively, like most do.
  
  I don't want to give anything away, but I have to admit that I don't fully understand the final act of this film. I *think* I do, but I wouldn't wanna put money on it. Normally, I wouldn't wanna review something that I wasn't sure about, but I think the things I don't understand for sure are basically academic, stuff that just clears up the plot a bit. The basic ideas, the atmosphere and the themes all come through, and they are what really matter. And they work.
  
  

• Pulse
• Seance
• Charisma
• Retribution
• Bright Future