• Cure

10/19/23 (Thurs)

Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s 1997 film is considered a classic of the horror genre and was apparently highly influential. It is more psychological than physical, with only one truly gruesome scene (where a woman tears a man’s face off). A man who claims to have lost his memory hypnotizes (or “mesmerizes”) random victims and plants suggestions in their heads causing them to murder close companions: a man kills his wife, a policeman shoots his sidekick, a researcher kills an assistant. It recalls The Manchurian Candidate, but that film felt more believable and had a clearer motive. Silence of the Lambs was similar as well in its portrayal of the villain haunting the inspector, and the more direct approach of that film appealed to me. The soft-spoken villain here seems to choose whoever happens to come along and doesn’t have to work too hard to entrap them. Purportedly amnesiac when it comes to his own life, he has the ability to get people to talk about themselves, presumably allowing him to pick the person that he’d like them to murder. The victims aren’t aware they have been manipulated until they have carried out the deed and remember nothing afterwards, knowing nothing but grief that their friend/spouse/partner has died at their hands. The detective investigating him feels himself being drawn into the trap but is unable to stop himself, while the villain seems to have knowledge of feelings that the detective has bottled up inside, which seemed a bit too convenient.

The film proceeded at a calm pace for a horror flick, and the creepiness came from the story rather than hair-raising monsters or violence. The clinical way in which the policeman casually pulled out his pistol and shot his co-worker point blank was a shock, presented in a long shot with no theatrics. Also, the arresting ending where we see the waitress in the background take the knife after an interaction with the detective implies that he has become the villain, though it was too ambiguous to know what the director was really saying.

Aside from those few scenes, though, the horror parts – the flashbacks, scenes with the monkey and so forth – were generally more standard fare. Many reviews dwell on the existential themes that the movie supposedly raises, but you have to accept some questionable developments to get to that level. Yakusho Koji was predictably good as the detective, and Hagiwara Masato was effectively low key as the villain. Well made, well acted, a new take on the horror genre. But not really my thing.