Cure (1997)

Director:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writers:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (novel)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 July 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Madness. Terror. Murder.

Plot:

A wave of gruesome murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection is a bloody X carved into the neck of each of the victims...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Tokyo Japan | Philosophy | Mystic | Psychological Drama

Awards:

9 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kôji Yakusho	...	Kenichi Takabe
Masato Hagiwara	...	Kunio Mamiya
Tsuyoshi Ujiki	...	Makoto Sakuma
Anna Nakagawa	...	Fumie Takabe
Yoriko Douguchi	...	Dr. Akiko Miyajima
Yukijirô Hotaru	...	Ichiro Kuwano
Denden	...	Oida
Ren Ôsugi	...	Fujiwara
Masahiro Toda	...	Tôru Hanaoka
Misayo Haruki	...	Tomoko Hanaoka
Shun Nakayama	...	Kimura
Akira Otaka	...	Yasukawa
Shôgo Suzuki	...	Tamura
Toshi Kato	...	Psychiatrist
Hajime Tanimoto	...	Takabe no shachô

Also Known As:

Cure (International: English title)
Kyua (Japan) (alternative title)
The Cure (UK)

Runtime:

111 min | Taiwan:115 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

France:-12 | South Korea:15 (DVD rating)

Company:

Code Red

Goofs:

Continuity: When the detective first goes to Mamiya's apartment, the landlord tells him he has not seen Mamiya for six months. Yet, when the detective enters the dark, long deserted apartment, the "lab" animals are still perfectly healthy. No explanation is offered as to how they survived with their owner gone for so long.

Movie Connections:

References Hana-bi (1997)

Subliminal to Visceral and back

A delicate, yet exceptionally gorey murder mystery from Japan. Truly so psychological, that I'm still not sure what might have been real and what might have been a Jungian chase through the house of a man's mind. The images bleed from the mundane and sterile to the nightmarish with such subtlety and grace, that I began to question the reality of the simplest scenes.

The film is as dreamlike and subliminal as the villain it chases. Not really a thriller, though I had no clue what might happen to who next. Not really suspenseful, though I couldn't look away in fear of missing a detail. It is DELIBERATELY PACED, which might put off the typical murder mystery fan. However, if you just sit back and stare into the light, as do the hapless victims of the film, you will find it to be an unnerving experience.