Cure (1997)

Cure: Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. With Kôji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa. A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they’ve done.

“The serial killer movie has by now been done to death (so to speak), so itu0026#39;s especially rewarding to see this assured film that takes a truly ingenious approach. Kurosawau0026#39;s protagonist is a seemingly dazed young man who, in spite of his aimless demeanor, is a master hypnotist. To reveal any more of what happens would be to give a bit too much away.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe subtlety and fluidity of this film is remarkable. The main character can be charming and simultaneously irritating when he speaks. He turns his speaking partneru0026#39;s question back on the speaker; he answers with vague phrases that nevertheless, over the course of the film, gradually bring out the complexity of his psyche. Pitting him against a cop whose wife seems to suffer from something like the hypnotistu0026#39;s u0026#39;brandu0026#39; of mental wanderings underlines the thematic context of the film: what we know is almost certainly only what we think we know. And what we think we know is almost certainly based on someone elseu0026#39;s u0026#39;knowledgeu0026#39;, derived the same as ours.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat knowledge is a collective phenomenon, a shared and critical feature of the u0026#39;hiveu0026#39; is not a novel concept in film. But its presentation here is bold and original. To link that idea with a person who destroys life is a master stroke; it says that what we know vanishes in a suddenly extinguished flame, or a tiny stream of water that appears, runs, and then is seen no more.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a film that should definitely be added to the great films of the 90s. Since it was not released in the U.S. until 2001, I vote for it being one of the great films of that year here.”