Cure Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Cure Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 13, 2022

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Cure" (1997) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new program with the director; new program with actor Masato Hagiwara; new program with actor Masato Hagiwara; new and archival promotional materials for the film; and more. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Cure is a legitimately different film. You can tell by the way Cure pulls you into its reality and begins playing with your head and senses. It is a very intimate experience, but not of the kind that an erotic film would have been proud to craft. Cure is a seriously spooky film that wants to connect with you, do things to you, and before it lets you go leave a scar that will not easily fade away.

How can a film do things to you and leave a lasting scar?

The same way a historic TV broadcast can. Folks that saw Neil Armstrong stepping on the Moon never forgot the exact moment when it happened and the feeling that came with it. It was a grand event, but it was also a very intimate experience. The exact moment in which the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed was part of a very painful intimate experience as well. If you saw it live on TV, you were scarred forever, and you still remember it.

In an archival program that is included on this release, Kiyoshi Kurosawa confirms that this is exactly how the idea for Cure came to him – while he was glued to his TV. Kurosawa then clarifies that it was the crime reports that he was viewing, which were practically identical to the ones Americans were viewing on their TVs, that began shaping the idea. What does Kurosawa mean exactly? It is easy to tell because these crime reports have not changed at all. While short, they do not just state facts, they are done in a very particular manner to connect with your mind. They are so disturbing you know that you would have been better off if you did not see them, but you cannot change the channel or turn off your TV until they are over. You want to hear all the details, even if they are very gruesome. There is a feeling that comes with the desire that is oddly addictive. Sometime during the 1990s, Kurosawa also realized how strong the pull factor was and began working on Cure.

Nearly half of Cure looks like a carefully assembled and edited collection of news reports about puzzling murder cases popping up across Tokyo. Detective Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho) quickly establishes that there is a serial killer on the loose, but struggles to produce a credible profile of him that can put his actions in a meaningful context. Eventually, the authorities apprehend Kunio Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara), a young social outcast with a peculiar interest in the ancient art of hypnotism who could be the serial killer, and Detective Takabe begins interrogating him. However, as evidence emerges that the detained man is connected to the murder cases, Detective Takabe realizes that his mind is becoming addicted to his depositions and they are having a significant impact on his private life.

Cure is a seriously spooky film not because it produces some astonishingly scary or graphic visuals, but because it establishes a direct line to the mind of Detective Takabe, which is being manipulated by the serial killer. As a result, viewing Cure evolves into something of a light interactive experience that has quite an impact on the head and senses.

But what was Kurosawa trying to accomplish with it?

If you believe what Kurosawa has said about the roots of Cure, then the interactive experience that materializes through it is crystal-clear evidence that the crime reports you consume via your TV do some very bad things to your mind. They can alter your perception of reality and even your personality and identity. In the second half of Cure, this is precisely what Detective Takabe discovers after the serial killer plugs into his mind and begins unloading details about his deeds.

Kurosawa worked with cinematographer Tokuhso Kikimura, who collaborated with him on many of his early direct-to-video and made-for-TV gangster films. Their understanding and management of ambience are masterful.

Cure Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Cure arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:

"Supervised by cinematographer Tokuhso Kikimura and undertaken by the Kadokawa Corporation, this 4K digital restoration was created from the 35mm original camera negative, which was scanned on a Lasergraphics ScanStaion film scanner at Imagica Entertainment Media Services Inc., in Osaka, Japan. The original stereo soundtrack was remastered from DAT recordings.

Transfer supervisor: Tokusho Kikimura.
Colorist: Masato Sekiguchi/Imagica Entertainment Media Services Inc., Tokyo."

The new 4K master that was created for Cure is outstanding. However, if you perform direct comparisons with previous releases of the film, you will easily notice that some areas of the film now look warmer. I have never had a theatrical experience with it and do not know what its original color temperature was, so I am simply highlighting the obvious difference. Delineation, clarity, and depth look great on my system, but it is worth mentioning that in certain darker areas there are stylistic choices that produce small fluctuations. Image stability is excellent. Unfortunately, many darker areas reveal light to moderate macroblocking, which easily could have been avoided with specific encoding optimizations. You can see an example in the lower left side of screencapture #1. When I projected Cure I did not notice them, but later, while I was working on this article, they were rather easy to see on my TV. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Cure Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Cure has an incredible sound design that mixes classic music, electronic tunes, and various organic sounds and noises. I thought that the lossless track did a tremendous job of revealing its strengths. The dialog was always very clear, sharp, clean, and easy to follow. I did not encounter any transfer-specific anomalies to report in our review.

Cure Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• No Boundaries - in this new program, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) discuss the genesis of Cure, the visual style and tone of the film, its complex narrative, and the period in which it emerged. The program was produced in May 2022. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (36 min).

• Koji Yakusho - in this new program, actor Koji Yakusho (Detective Kenichi Takabe) recalls his initial encounter with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and discusses their work during the filming of Cure as well as some of the director's creative preferences. The program was produced in May 2020. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (15 min).

• Masato Hagiwara - in this new program, actor Masato Hagiwara recalls what it was like to play the serial killer in Cure and interact with Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The program was produced in September 2020. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (21 min).

• Kiyoshi Kurosawa - in this archival program, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa discusses the conception of Cure and some of the key themes and moods that are intertwined in it. The program was filmed in Toronto in 2003. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (20 min).

• Promotional Materials -
  
  1. Original theatrical trailer
  2. 4K Rerelease trailer
  3. Teaser

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Chris Fujiwara's essay "Erasure" as well as technical credits.

Cure Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure presents contemporary evidence that Friedrich Nietzsche's famous statement about gazing into the abyss is entirely legitimate. It does it brilliantly, too, which is why it is such a genuinely spooky film. If you consider that Kurosawa's inspiration for it came from his TV viewing habits during the 1990s, you can even permanently scare yourself because your identity is a work in progress and is constantly being tweaked without your approval. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of Cure is sourced from a gorgeous new 4K master that was supervised by cinematographer Tokusho Kikimura, but the technical presentation of the film should have been a lot more convincing. Also, I think that in addition to the Blu-ray release, there should have been a 4K Blu-ray release. RECOMMENDED.