Films by Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Cure Guard From The Underground Kairo Kourei Loft |
Review
©
Mandi Apple, 2002. |
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| Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 111 min, starring Koji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa, Yoriko Douguchi, Yukijiro Hotaru, Denden and Ren Osugi.
Right from the outset, I feel it necessary to point out that Cure, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's major breakthrough hit, is not your average bog-standard horror flick. In fact, it barely even qualifies as a horror movie at all; it's more like a psychological thriller with vague semi-supernatural overtones, as shown in its tagline, 'The Power of Suggestion'. But as in the director's later films, such as Korei (aka Seance), and his complete masterpiece, Kairo (aka Pulse), Cure is willing and able to be three different movies in one - it completely breaks through the genre boundaries of the 'serial-killer' movie and becomes something entirely different, mystical and troubling, full of unanswered questions, an almost unbearable atmosphere of tension, and more dark chills than most out-and-out horror films. There are other elements which would later influence the making of Kairo (in which, interestingly, Kurosawa gave Cure's star, Koji Yakusho, a cameo role); for instance, Cure is also shot in an almost-identical style favouring dark, murky, grubby locations, transparent plastic sheeting, long-distance sequences and muted, washed-out colours. Kurosawa of course went on to make a partial follow-up to Cure, 1999's Charisma (aka Karisuma), with Yakusho reprising his rôle from the original film. The
soundtracks are also very similar: there is no huge dramatic background
music featured in either film; instead, you get very little music
(one strangely effective, out-of-place and somewhat chirpy
instrumental at the beginning of the film) but lots of ambient atmospherics
- vague rumblings and dead air, quickly contrasted with intercuts
of loud machinery or clanking metal. The soundtrack's minimalism
(even omitting any kind of outro music over the end titles, preferring
to use instead evening street-sounds with cars and birdsong) really
helps to build up an organic and very realistic feel to the movie
- as if it was almost a documentary.
Synopsis "Who are you?" On the face of it, Cure tells a fairly straightforward story. There is a wave of serial killings taking place throughout Tokyo, in which each victim is murdered by having an X cut across their neck, so as to sever both the carotid artery and jugular vein. In itself, that wouldn't be such a strange thing, except it turns out that it's not just one serial killer at work: in every case, there was a different perpetrator, generally waiting close by the crime scene, ready to confess to the killing, and yet with no idea or explanation why they committed the murder. The police officer in charge of the case, Detective Takabe (played absolutely outstandingly by Koji Yakusho), is of course completely baffled by these weird cases, and through his investigation, interrogating the totally confused suspects along with his friend and colleague Sakuma (Tsuyoshi Ujiki), a clinical and forensic psychologist, he realizes that there must be one person connected to all the separate murderers. But how on earth could there be, when all the perpetrators are random and totally unconnected to each other? The only thing they all have in common is the method of murder, and that they have no recollection of why they did it in the first place. So,
after some consideration, Takabe decides that it must be the work
of one person who is somehow hypnotizing the others into
committing the same style of murder. He comes to this deduction
by dint of the fact that his wife, Fumie (played excellently by
Anna Nakagawa), has a terrible mental illness which causes her to
go blank (in a kind of 'fugue' or trance state), and although she
receives out-patient care at a psychiatric hospital, Takabe is her
main carer; he has, of course, done a bit of layman's psychology
from books, trying to fully understand his wife's condition. Along
with Sakuma, he tries to build up a psychological profile of the
killer hypnotist who is behind the serial murders.
However, on a secluded beach on the other side of the city, an elementary teacher comes into contact with a mysterious young man who clearly shows all the symptoms of amnesia (a totally brilliant performance by Masato Hagiwara). In fact, his memory loss is so complete that he cannot remember his own name, and keeps on asking the same questions over and over, even though the answers have just been given to him mere seconds beforehand. Fearing for the man's safety, the teacher takes him back to the house he shares with his wife, with the idea in mind of calling in the authorities. He discovers the mysterious man’s name by accident, from a label stuck inside his coat: 'Mamiya' - but when Mamiya pulls out a lighter and asks him a question he repeats constantly throughout the film, "Who are you?", the teacher does not call the authorities - in fact, he remembers nothing until the police pick him up after murdering his wife and jumping out of the window. But Mamiya is not an invulnerable villain as in most Hollywood thrillers: in fact, his amnesia disallows him from making conscious moves to protect his identity, and therefore he leaves a pretty straightforward trail leading directly to himself, which Takabe picks up on, whilst interrogating a police officer named Oida (played by Denden). Oida previously brought in a mysterious stranger named Mamiya to his police box, made a police report of the man's name and details, and later killed his colleague in cold blood. During this interview, a very beautiful and eerie scene is played out which totally gives Mamiya away. He can't protect himself because he can't remember to do so, or where he's been, or what he's done. But at the same time, this ensures that he is completely protected, as he doesn't know that he's been doing it - or does he? So OK, it’s no great surprise that Mamiya is behind the mass mesmerism. That part of the film is totally Scooby-Doo-simple to work out. In fact, it doesn’t even really count as a spoiler, because you understand who the 'murderer' is and how he's doing it within the first fifteen minutes of the film, but not why.
And
this is where things get really interesting, because the real
meat of the film is the battle of wills between Takabe and Mamiya,
attempting to outpsyche and destroy each other. The two characters
are strangely polarized: Takabe, with two entirely distinct and
separate 'personae', that of the detective and the husband/carer;
and Mamiya, with no persona whatsoever, void of character
and personality. All
in all, Cure is a groundbreaking film, made quite some time
before the New Wave of Japanese cinema took off, and its influence
on many of the later films is tangible. If you enjoy deep, dark,
traumatic, thoughtful psychological drama at its most heavy, tense
and serious, I guarantee you will love this film. Cure
knocks SE7EN shades of poop out of some similarly-styled Hollywood
movies ;-) Snowblood
Apple Rating for this film: Discuss this movie here at the Snowblood Apple Forums!
Cure Wallpaper Snowblood
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