Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

tapio_hietamaki Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to Akira Kurosawa) makes movies that some would describe as incomprehensible art house. It's true that they're short on explanations and feature long shots with ambiguous meaning, but they're still narrative movies, thrillers. Well, maybe I said too much as I haven't seen his movies other than 'Cure' and 'Kairo', but those two had a lot of similarities so I feel I've got some kind of grasp of his style.'Cure' is a story about hypnotism, but despite the name-dropping and exposition it's not meant to be a realistic portrayal of the practice. It takes the concept of hypnotism and uses it to scare the viewers, plants seeds of doubt, explores philosophical ramifications.The story is about a string of gruesome murders, where the suspect killed with no motive and can offer no explanations as to why they did it. Turns out there is a vagrant, a dropout student, who has an inexplicable power to turn men to senseless evil.What does this mean? The movie invites the viewers to draw their own theories. I see it as this twisted worldview where some people are above morality, above the mindless masses and able to manipulate them. It's a chilling picture.The movie is nearly colorless and light on dialog and music. It's slow, brooding and distressing.

bhargavreddypondugula CUREThis is the review of the movie called Cure directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.This is a Japanese horror movie ( J-horror genre)Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a famous and very -well known Japanese film director and screenwriter, film critic and a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. He contributed much to the J-horror genre (Japanese horror).Plot:Cure movie begins with a scene showcasing a lady patient in a hospital who suffers with mental illness and also happens to be the wife of Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho) who is an emotionally repressed police detective.Takabe investigates a series of bizarre murders , in which each victim is killed the same way by and X-mark carved into their necks.Ideology:The basic ideology behind the movie is about Hypnosis and what lead a person to take himself the decision of killing people which is a crime , Hypnosis is a psychological state with physiological attributes superficially resembling sleep and marked by an individual's level of awareness other than the ordinary conscious state. Hypnosis is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction involving a series of preliminary instructions and suggestions Conclusion:Cure is not a tale of the supernatural. Rather, it is a take on the serial killer film, and a revisionist one at .Cure is an unnerving and unsettling film. Many subtle elements are combined to powerful effect. Locations are cold, run-down, deserted and dilapidated, characters are enigmatic and painted in shades of grey rather than black and white, the acting is understated and the unique use of sound thoroughly unnerving

Lucabrasisleeps In many ways this movie has one of the scariest villains in horror movie history. He is so cunning and emotionless and he has tremendous powers that he could use at will. I wouldn't call this movie scary but it really got under my skin.Certain scenes were really effective because they come out of absolutely nowhere. The hanging scene or the scene with the nurse murdering the guy came out of nowhere. The movie moves really slow with absolutely shocking moments at frequent intervals. The mark appearing at various points was also effective. I have often mentioned that payoff is important, at least give me something! And this movie delivers that in spades. Koji Yakusho gives a stunning performance as Takabe. His frequent bursts were incredible to watch. A detective, as he explains, is not supposed to show any emotion. Takabe, at various points, is almost losing it but he manages to compose himself at the last moment. He tries to be the dutiful husband to his ill wife. He tries to do his job despite dealing with scumbags. Yet towards the end, he finds that he might be losing the battle to Mamiya.And that's what this movie is all about. It is about the battle between Takabe and Mamiya. Despite trying his best, Mamiya manages to get into the mind of Takabe after getting a few details about his life. That's all Mamiya needs to manipulate someone. Few people are immune to his hypnosis techniques. The way in which the movie details the crimes of Mamiya is a treat to watch. It is just fascinating to watch how he manages to talk to those people and understand their issues quite easily. Most probably he knows their story even before they told him. Even the calm and composed Sakuma becomes increasingly erratic towards the end.As in many movies of this nature, the lack of music (or minimalist music) works so well. It lends a documentary feel to the scenes. But some scenes suddenly switch to a surreal nature and that is disorienting. That's why this movie works so well. The concept itself is interesting. What is Mamiya exactly doing? Is he manipulating people to commit crimes or is he just removing the inhibitions? It is even scary to see how otherwise normal people seem to lose it. Even people like that friendly officer. The movie is incredibly atmospheric and the creepy concept and the execution elevate this movie to classic status.The ending is disturbing as well and it gives a satisfying conclusion to his excellent horror film.One of my favourite Japanese horror films and I rate it a 10/10.

poikkeus I saw CURE at the San Francisco Film Festival in around 1998, and like many, I found the concept and craftsmanship arresting. A number of audience members stayed around afterwards to discuss it - it's a psychologically complex tale of hypnotism and the seductions of altered consciousness. Koji Yakusho (DORA HEITA, 13 ASSSASSINS, etc.) is at his acting peak as a detective who tries to solve a series of murders that don't seem to relate to common logic.Recently, I saw the DVD version of the film - and it's clear that the film had been cut severely. Most viewers have only seen the US DVD version, so they're not even aware of the problem. A few of the more graphic sequences were cut, important portions of the narrative set in an old sanatorium were excised, and the violent finish was excised entirely. (The US DVD concludes with the suggestion of a further killing; the theatrical Japanese version is more powerful and unambiguous.) In some cases, a later, recut version may be better than the original; however, that's not the case here. There's scant online text relating to the differences between the two versions. It speaks well for director Kiyoshi Kurosawa that he took a low-budget police procedural and made an innovative thriller out of it. Most of the scenes are under-edited and shot at a distance, to extract the most from the hypnotic storyline; the longer, hypnotic sequences are several minutes long, with no edits. Because the film uses medium-distance shots to give a sense of hypnotic disassociation, viewers with larger screens will gain an advantage.I strongly recommend seeing it - but would suggest you seek out the original, uncut theatrical print if you can. The differences are striking. I'd rate the original print as 10/10; the cut/domestic DVD is maybe 7/10. This film would profit from a Criterion reissue, but that doesn't seem to be in the works.