Kiyoshi Kurosawa Movies

Japan has not one but two directors of note kalled Kurosawa. I've ended up seeing a fair amount of Kiyoshi Kurosawa movies too, and because I'm a nice guy, I'll share my thoughts on them. He is a fine conveyor of mood and tension, and his use of music to heighten a scene (particularly a scary scene) make even his weaker movies interesting. The following five movies (FIVE - that's crept up on me!) have one thing in common: either a lead or an important part played by Koji Yakusho, the Japanese Jeff Bridges. They are discussed in no particular order at all:

1. Retribution (2006)

Other than the iRRationAL French title, this looks like it could be the DVD cover for 'The Bridge,' 'The Killing' or any of those other Scandinavian Police shows. [source]

Follows a policeman and a murder mystery which he may have committed. The story revolves around ambiguity: we're unsure if he did kill the woman, who is now haunting him, or if he is being haunted by memories of a woman who died years beforfe. Only one thing's certain: he's not a particularly good egg.
While this is a largely atmospheric mood piece, the use of small earthquakes is interesting, it is disappointing in all. It is simply too ambiguous in its morals, and the ghost (a woman in red who appears all the time, but particularly after a tremor) is ridiculous, at one point she simply flies off into the distance like Superman, it's an amusing scene when it shoudl be tense. Disappointing in its execution.
Rating: **

2. Pulse (2001)

Have you seen the remake of this? No, I didn't think so. [source]

 I've mentioned this before, it's a movie which deals with the loneliness and isolation possible in the internet age, and then adds a weird suicide cult / ghosts. It's a very unnerving movie, with shadows and atmospheric silence creeping into scenes as the city of Tokyo becomes more and more deserted, leaving only a few people to engage with shadows. This is particularly scary if your first encounter of it is when you come back from a night out with only this showing and all other lights off. Is it the movie which started the J-Horror craze? Is it the best, creepiest J-Horror? possibly. The use of music is really impressive and unsettling, and although the plot does drag a little bit, it remains his most complete work, intelligent, socially aware, and frightening. Even the trailer is terrifying.

 

Rating: *****

3. Cure (1997)

You type in 'Cure' into Google, and you get a lot of pictures of Robert Smith [source]

Being unoriginal, I have also mentioned this one too. Its another atmospheric and interesting movie, this time about serial killers, and was made in response to the Sirin gas attacks. It deals with the occult, hypnosis and ends on ambguity and potential widespread murder. It's a great movie which deals with the potential in all humans for suggestibility, and our underlying murderous nature. Chilling, interesting, and really worth your time.
Rating: ****1/2

4. Seance (2000)

If you can put a creepy face on the cover, you should. [source]

A Made for TV movie, which is based on 'Seance on a Wet Afternoon'. Despite being a TV movie, it still manages a few genuine chills and maintains some of the moral ambiguity of the original. For whatever reason, scenes in the Japanese countryside tend to freak me out, and this movie has a lot of them. However, the whole plot hinges on a particularly stupid incident, which really damages an other atmospheric movie: A missing child jumps in the camera box of the husband, Koji Yakusho, and he takes it back without realising that she is in there, which allows his wife, the medium, to manipulate the press and get her extra fame. However, how did he not realise his camera box was 25kg heavier than usual? and what kind of idiot child jumps in a box like that anyway? Still, that's not the dilemma, it's about how the couple go about their lives despite being menaced by a ghost (or guilty conscience). A little scary, a little atmospheric, but also a little flawed.
Rating: ***

5. Tokyo Sonata (2008)

A mediocre movie, and an equally shoddy poster. Coincidence? [source]

A Sonata, if you will, to Tokyo, if you will. It's supposed to be a tale of an ordinary Japanese family: A bullying child; a salaryman husband; a bored wife; and a disenfranchised, latchkey student. While a movie could be made about the husbands loss of employment, his refusal to admit it (he hangs out in homeless places in a suit and dishes out his salary through creative means) and his struggles with authority within the family. However, instead of it being an average family dealing with one exceptional situation: we get - the kid is a musical genius, the teenager gets to join the US army (because that happens now) and then joins up with a terrorist organisation, and the mother is involved in a kidnapping and only reluctantly decides agaisnt making a new name for herself, while the father nearly dies in a bizarre car crash. Promising, but not worth it. Also, the only non-scary movie of his I've seen. Starts well, but becomes really diappointing really quickly.
Rating: **

In conclusion, Pulse and Cure are really worth checking out. But, if you don't like them, you'll hate the rest I've seen. Have a good weekend brahs.