The story concerns a number of murders in which all the victims have died from a very peculiar knife wound: a large x has been carved into their flesh, across the throat and chest. Each of the murders is committed by a different person and all of them are found near the scene of the crime and most interestingly-none of them knows why they committed crime. “It seemed like the most normal thing to do,” is their answer. Police inspector Takabe (the always brilliant Koji Yakusho) starts investigating the cases and he gets a strange link. He learns that each of the unwitting killers came into contact with a young drifter just before the crime took place. His name is Mamiya, a formal medical student who is suffering from amnesia. Takabe’s questions meet with more questions, and he begins to lose control. Takabe firstly is not the most stable guy, to begin with- he suffers hallucinations, such as seeing his wife hanging from a noose in their kitchen.
Cure is an unnerving and unsettling film. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa proves to be an absolute master at creating a bleak atmosphere that chills the viewer to the very bone. Cure is more than just a thriller though-the normal urban settings look mysterious throughout. In other words-its the very normality that Kurosawa questions.
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