CURE

Japan | 1997 | DCP | 111 mins. | Japanese with English subtitles
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Cast: Koji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki
Follow up the minimalistic terror of Chime with Kurosawa’s ultimate masterpiece. In Cure, police detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) investigates a string of grisly killings. The kicker? Several perpetrators have been caught, yet none possess any memory of committing the crime in question. Bathed in a sinister ambience and aided by its unnerving soundscape, the film follows Takabe as he forays deeper into the heart of darkness, discovering a hypnotist with potent powers of suggestion. A singular horror classic, Kurosawa’s procedural chiller possesses an enduring existential ambiguity that remains impossible to shake. (JM)