Cure

Original variation on the serial-killer film. The protagonist is police officer Takabe (played by Koji Yakusho, who can also be seen at the festival in Imamura's The Eel), who is confronted with a series of cruel and bizarre murders: a large cross is gouged into the bodies of the victims. Strangely enough the culprits are found near the body each time. They are always different people, often related to the victims, who can remember nothing of their gruesome deeds. Together with the psychiatrist Sakuma, Takabe goes desperately in search of motives. An investigation into themes in television series and films leads to nothing. One day, a strange young tramp is arrested near another X murder. The tramp turns out to have a dangerous charisma. As a psychology student he was deeply involved with hypnosis. He deteriorated into insanity, but his hypnotic abilities remained frightening and now he seems able to make anyone do the most awful things.Cure is related to most black serial-killer films such as The Silence of the Lambs by Jonathan Demme and above all the extremely dark Seven by David Fincher. Kiyoshi Kurosawa puts his interest in the phenomenon of the serial killer in the context of the approaching millennium and the disappearance of world-wide ideologies. (GjZ)