Kiyoshi Kurosawa is slowly overtaking Takashi Miike as my fave current Japanese director (sorry, Ryuhei Kitamura). I waited a long time to see Cure and now that I have, I realize how brilliant Kurosawa really is. This movie is so dense, so packed with subtext and subliminal detail, you might not get it all in one sitting. I will admit I had to watch the ending about 15 times in a row, because it is extremely cryptic. There is plenty of ominous and sublimely creepy imagery, not to mention a Kubrick/Lynch meshing of style here. Don't be mistaken though, because Kurosawa's signature jet-black humor and obtusely enigmatic storytelling is in rare form here. If you enjoy just soaking in a well-structured story and not worrying about who the killer is or if there's some contrived twist ending like most Hollywood movies, then Cure will satisfy your need to be entertained and use that thing in your head called a brain at the same time.
Review of Cure
