Cure (Kurosawa, 1997): Prince Charles Cinema, 8.45pm
This film also screens on April 14th and is part of a mini retrospective of Kiyoshi Kurosawa films. Full details here.
Chicago Reader review:
The prolific Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been at work for
nearly two decades, sometimes making straight-to-video features but more
recently receiving some belated international recognition. The
engrossing Cure (1997) stars Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance?, The Eel) as a troubled detective exploring a series of murders committed through hypnotic suggestion (as in The Manchurian Candidate),
and while its creepy mystery plot is easy enough to follow even when it
turns metaphysical, it’s unsatisfying as a story precisely because it
aspires to create a mounting sense of dread by enlarging questions
rather than answering them. Like other recent thrillers by this
director, it’s fairly grisly, though Kurosawa’s frequent long shots
impart a cool, detached tone to the cruelty and violence. Stylistically
it’s the most inventive Japanese feature I’ve seen in some time, much
more unpredictable than Takeshi Kitano’s recent yakuza exercises.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
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