Cure

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Cure

2001

1h 50m

Crime

Drama

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

66 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

"Cure" is part atmospheric crime film and part philosophical meditation. Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) is tracking a series of identical murders, committed under the same bizarre circumstances. Nothing seems to connect the murders and Takabe becomes increasingly frustrated...

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Critics Consensus

Mesmerizing and psychologically intriguing.

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Jake Cole

Slant Magazine

10/18/2022

It was here that Kurosawa Kiyoshi's distinctive approach to genre film fully bloomed, an oblique form of horror that unsettles precisely for how much exists outside the frame as much as what lies within it.

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Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

04/23/2018

an increasingly hallucinatory piece where murderousness is a disease spreading rapidly through the susceptible Japanese psyche.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

10/17/2011

It's unsatisfying as a story precisely because it aspires to create a mounting sense of dread by enlarging questions rather than answering them.

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Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Willamette Week

Oct 15

Cure is a master class in using eminently available filmmaking techniques to revolutionize the oldest cop story in the book.

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Julian Singleton

Cinapse

Jul 11

Cure forces us to reconsider what terrors might be possible underneath the mundanity of everyday life. What’s more, by doing so we must confront our own capability in conjuring such demons from the darkness of our imaginations.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

10/21/2024

... the deliberate pace may try the patience of some viewers, but it sets a perfect backdrop for the coldly matter-of-fact killings, which Kurosawa films with the passion of a blasé voyeur.

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Joni M.

@dieteticjoni Oct 19

It at least makes you think. Good dread vibes. Good main.

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Tyler K.

@gorphead59 Oct 14

The vibe and atmosphere alone sold beyond this film. This was great. And that subtle ending was perfect. I loved this. 9.7/10

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Helene S

Oct 13

really amazing. one of the best films i've seen

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Hao Ian L

@HaOiAn Aug 18

Cure cements itself as a one-of-its-kind in the vast thriller genre thanks to the unique psychological approach that comes from its subtlety in every corner and just the right amount of exposition, yet it still manages to feel ever so unsettling.

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Devin S.

@dmsmock86 Jul 15

A truly special movie. One of the best Japanese movies I’ve ever seen, especially made after 1990.

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Mark C

Jul 9

Every so often I enjoy a film like this, full of intrigue, but not many answers on the surface level. The movie was shot with a sense of dread and was gripping despite the lack of explicit answers. If done ham fisted way, you get LongLegs.

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Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Director

Kôji Yakusho

Ken-ichi Takabe

Tsuyoshi Ujiki

Makoto Sakuma

Anna Nakagawa

Fumie Takabe

Masato Hagiwara

Kunio Mamiya

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer

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Synopsis

"Cure" is part atmospheric crime film and part philosophical meditation. Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) is tracking a series of identical murders, committed under the same bizarre circumstances. Nothing seems to connect the murders and Takabe becomes increasingly frustrated...

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Producer: Tetsuya Ikeda, Satoshi Kanno, Tsutomu Tsuchikawa, Atsuyuki Shimoda
Screenwriter: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Distributor: Cowboy Pictures, Criterion Pictures
Production Co: Universal/Universal Int
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 7, 2001, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Aug 9, 2005
Box Office (Gross USA): $94.6K
Runtime: 1h 50m
Sound Mix: Stereo, Dolby Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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