Cure

A series of gruesome murders is plaguing Tokyo: the victims die from loss of blood through an X-shaped incision in the neck, which severs both carotid arteries; even more strange, the unlikely perpetrators remain at the scene of the crime, remembering nothing of the crime itself. The police detective in charge of the case, Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho, weary and sorrowful), wonders how killers unaware of one another or of the unpublicized details of previous crimes can commit murder with the same M.O. Writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's acclaimed psychological drama (a festival favorite worldwide) puts a meditative spin on the serial-killer genre, focusing as much on the intellectual and emotional toll the investigation takes on Takabe as it does on the whodunit (and how-dunit) aspects. And in Kunio Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara), the mysterious drifter and former psychology student, Kurosawa ("no relation" to Akira, the director says) creates a chillingly credible psychopath; a Hannibal Lecter-type who, with encouraging whispers, can talk the unsuspecting into doing terrible things. With its long, uncut takes in which tension builds simply and quietly, Cure will have viewers under its spell. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a subtitled 20-minute interview with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa from Toronto in 2003, a filmography for Kurosawa, and a trailer. Bottom line: a small set of extras for a small but solid thriller.] (M. Johanson)