Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Screenplay: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Kōji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki and Anna Nakagawa
Country: Japan
Running Time: 112 min
Year: 1997
Back in 2023, when I was compiling my list of favourite first time watches of that year, the film that cracked my number two spot was Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure. I wrote a brief piece about the film there but have been eager to revisit the film ever since. Thankfully, Eureka has reissued the film on Limited Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray as part of their Masters of Cinema series and I knew I had to cover it for the site.
For those unfamiliar, Cure is one of the first big J Horror films, predating the likes of Audition, Ring, Ju-on: The Grudge and Ichi the Killer by quite a few years. The film’s been hailed as one of the greatest thrillers ever made, has a spot in the Letterboxd Top 250 and even received the Criterion treatment in the States. It’s a landmark film in many ways, taking influence from films like Se7en but having director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s unique and trademark flair across all 112 minutes.
The film follows Detective Takabe (Kōji Yakusho), a man investigating a series of murders which have all played out in similar fashion. A person, typically a man, murders somebody close to them and has no recollection of what drove them to commit the crime. At the same time that Takabe is investigating the murders, we follow the mysterious Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara) who’s at the centre of each of these killings. Through hypnosis, he’s triggering each victim to take a life and carve an X into the victims.
That’s about all I want to say narratively, because Cure is an outstanding film that you should seek out immediately. Kurosawa’s direction is flawless, constantly utilising unbroken long takes to keep the viewer hooked throughout. Each frame feels meticulously crafted in the same way one would describe a Wes Anderson film. It’s an absolutely stunning film, despite the insanely bleak nature of the content.
Take Mamiya’s introductory sequence, which takes place on a beach. There’s no music, outside of an ambient drone as we follow him asking a man where he is over and over again. On paper, that doesn’t sound too scary but with the aforementioned factors of the long, unbroken takes and the droning, it immediately unnerves the viewer and makes the skin crawl on their necks. At least, it did for me. All of the horror sequences in the film are so unexpected, so matter-of-fact and never cross the line into goofy or absurd. Grounding the film in reality is paramount to what makes it work so excellently. Each performance is equally brilliant, with Mamiya’s presence in each scene making me feel a level of unease that few films are able to accomplish. The dynamic that he and Takabe have is fantastic and leads to an excellent sequence inside a prison cell. It’s great stuff.
Compared to a lot of films I cover for the site, Cure is difficult to sell without telling you to watch it yourself. Maybe you’ll find it completely unscary, maybe you’ll think it’s the scariest film ever made. I fall into the latter camp myself, but even those unfazed by the horror elements will undoubtedly appreciate the craft on display from someone who’s far too underrated when it comes to the great Japanese filmmakers. Even last year, he released three (yes, three!) films to critical acclaim but it still feels as if he’s not brought up in conversations enough.
Cure is a masterpiece in tension, in filmmaking, in horror and paved the way for Kurosawa’s later films and even features such as last year’s Longlegs (for those who’ve seen it, think about the premise to each film and you’ll see the comparison!) but still feels more like a cult favourite than the all-time great that it actually is. If you’re a fan of horror or Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s other work, check it out. You won’t regret it, although you’ll probably need an extra set of underwear…
Film: 
Cure releases on Limited Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray on January 27th via Eureka. The restoration is absolutely stunning, taken from a 4K restoration with Dolby Vision HDR implementation and feels like a giant upgrade from Eureka’s previous Blu-ray release. The image quality is fantastic and helps so much with some of the darker sequences in the film. The black levels are some of the best I’ve seen recently and certain sequences with Takabe and Mamiya blew me away visually thanks to this restoration. Audio wise, it’s a stereo mix and it sounds fantastic too. Despite the lack of a persistent score, when the eerie droning kicks in, it does the job excellently. On an A/V level, I think this is one of the biggest upgrades from a Blu-ray to a 4K UHD I’ve seen recently. The following extras are included:
SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited edition of 2000 copies
Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Time Tomorrow
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation from a 4K digital restoration, presented in Dolby Vision HDR
Uncompressed original Japanese stereo soundtrack
Memories of Cure – new interview with director Bong Joon-ho
Curating Cure – new video essay by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes
Two archival interviews with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa from 2003 and 2018
Kim Newman on Cure – Interview with critic and author Kim Newman
Trailers and TV spot
A Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring an essay by Tom Mes
Curating Cure is a brand new video essay, exclusive to this release by Tom Mes who dives into how Cure fits into director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s career as well as being one of the defining J Horror films. It’s a fascinating essay and it runs for around 13 minutes.
Memories of Cure is a brand new interview, exclusive to this release with director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, The Host, Memories of Murder) who’s described Cure in the past as one of his favourite films ever. Bong talks about his friendship with Kurosawa, how he initially discovered the film on VHS and wants to experience it in a cinema still and how sound plays a key role into the horror of the film. There’s even a comparison to how David Lynch uses sound as a horror device, which was great to hear. It’s obvious throughout how much Cure means to Bong and it results in a delightful interview. It runs for 29 minutes and is a must watch.
Two archival interviews with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa from 2003 and 2018 are included on the disc, ported over from the previous Eureka Blu-ray and both are great watches. The 2018 interview runs for 17 minutes and features Kurosawa discussing his early career as an assistant director, his work in early pink films and straight to video films and his working relationship with actor Show Aikawa. The second interview from 2003 runs for 20 minutes and focuses more on questions purely relating to the film and Kurosawa talks about the true crime influence of the film, the concept of identity and how it plays into Cure and the visual approach to the film, highlighting space in the frame. Both interviews are easily worth your time.
Kim Newman’s archival interview from Eureka’s Blu-ray is a great watch, as expected. Newman’s overflowing with information about Kurosawa, Newman’s thoughts on how Cure feels influenced by Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To and even refers to Kurosawa’s style as a ‘scary version of Ozu.’ A great watch that runs for 14 minutes.
A series of trailers and a TV spot are included.
I wasn’t provided with a copy of the limited edition booklet, unfortunately but I assume the Mes essay is as excellent as his video essay on the disc is.
Overall, Eureka’s 4K upgrade for the Kiyoshi Kurosawa classic is phenomenal, offering some excellent new extras while porting over what was previously included on their Blu-ray release. A huge visual improvement from the Blu-ray too, there’s no reason to miss out on this disc. A must buy.
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