Everyone who runs into eccentric amnesiac Mamiya develops a murderous apathy, fully aware of their crimes but unable to explain their motives. Toxically repressed detective Takabe is put on the case, set on discovering a reason – for Mamiya’s madness, for his victims’ bloodlust, and for his own fragile sanity.

Who do we become when faced with the platonic ideal? How do our perceptions – of ourselves, of others, of the lost and longing – change when we are ourselves aware of being perceived? By dancing with these questions while building tense scene after tense scene, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s unnerving 1997 thriller CURE puts less effort into being scary than showing us why we’re all scared of ourselves.

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Excerpt of Heinrich Lichner’s “Gypsy Dance” performed by Gary Ashiya ゲイリー芦屋 from CURE.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters.