Cure

Watched this a few years ago and barely remembered anything but wowww this is a perfect movie. From the aesthetics, the mood, the themes, the characters, just about everything here is so amazing. I love the way Kurosawa lets the sets breathe, with plenty of space between characters at times. He’s very patient with introductions and pacing, especially with Mamiya’s introduction, where the slow pace makes it so unsettling. The sets are also so incredible. They’re very minimalistic at times and contribute to an already dark atmosphere. His blocking is also so cool in this. I don’t know what film stock they used but it’s really so amazing.  I love the way the film tackles the dormant urges and evils that people have within them. Everyone seems to deny they could be capable of evil. Sakuma says that hypnotic suggestion doesn’t change a person’s morals and couldn’t be enough get someone to kill anybody but I think what this shows is that everyone has the ability to kill, no matter how much they deny it. I think that’s a very dark view on humanity and not one I totally agree with but still very interesting to see.