When Memory Becomes a Weapon: Cure
When murder spreads like the black plague, an antidote is immediately required.
Cure is a masterpiece by the director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and is said to be one of the best in the Japanese horror genre. The 1997 film is an atmospheric horror, sending chills to your core.
A series of identical murders spark concern in Tokyo. Detective Takabe is in charge of investigating, and finds out that the crimes are only related with two recurring details: an X is brutally marked on the victim, and the murderer seems to remember nothing about the crime and the motive behind it. There is one common denominator between the murderers: they each met a former psychology student, Mamiya, who has no recollection of his past and suffers from extreme short-term memory loss.
Takabe teams up with the psychologist Sakuma to analyze how Mamiya might be related to the mass murder. It turns out that the forgetful man is a master of his own amnesia, and soon Takabe and Sakuma fall for his curse.
Haunting, twisted, and hypnotic, Cure has been applauded by other legendary directors like Martin Scorsese and Bong Joon-ho. Like a feline pouncing on its prey, the characters lose the grip of their sanity before they can even realize it and become bound to a will beyond their comprehension.
Cure is not for the sensitive, as this psychological thriller contemplates the worst possibilities, as well as including a hefty punch of gore. Grey-hued, metaphysical, and probing into the theme of free will, Kurosawa’s riveting piece is nothing short of a mystery.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
