The first lesser-known-Kurosawa film I saw was 1997's 'Cure', an
interesting psychological thriller about a detective trying to solve a series
of murders. It worked well and didn't fall into any traps that can so regularly
happen with films such as this, keeping the focus on the psychological aspects
rather than becoming too horrific.
I've since seen a number of his films, including 2008's
mini-masterpiece 'Tokyo Sonata', gaining him greater international acclaim,
particularly on the festival circuit, and as such his films are met with
expectation, though perhaps mixed reviews.
'Creepy' is very much a film of two halves. It pains me to say that this
is 'Cure' meets the Shia LaBeouf-driven 'Disturbia; largely for two reasons:
for one, I've reviewed a film as 'X' meets 'Y'; and secondly the admission that
I have seen the Shia LaBeouf-driven toss bag.
The first half is something like the vein of 'Cure': a former homicide
detective and expert in criminal psychology takes a role as a lecturer
following an attack by one of his suspects. Soon realising - on what appears to
be his first day - that the life of an academic isn't quite as fast-paced, he
starts to look at an unsolved case, from a purely research perspective, he
tells his wife.
It is here he uncovers a mysterious story of a family that disappears,
leaving only the daughter behind; a daughter that can't remember nothing. All
this is being played alongside the middle-aging Takakura and his wife moving to
a new neighbourhood, next to one neighbour that makes it very clear they couldn't
give a damn about you; the other, the slightly odd Nishino, played by
strange-faced Teruyuki Kagawa.
Gradually, as Takakura suspects, the two stories start to merge, with
Nishino all that he seems on the surface in the head department as well. The
revelation, however, sees the film take a turn for the worse. Much like
LaBeouf's neighbour in 'Disturbia', Nishino's strange, homemade death dungeon,
that seems implausibly dank in a typically suburban household, is uncovered,
with all the psychological images you'd formed in your mind now shown to you on
the screen.
In the second half of the film, Kiyoshi Kurosawa decides against the
psychological, focusing more on showing the crimes in facto (Latin), which
takes away all the first half might have been building. The more that is shown,
the less 'creepy' it becomes. This is a disappointment from a director that has
worked to create such good psychological pieces in the past.
The mystery is too easily solved, and the suspense is lost, feeling
more like an out-and-out horror, that isn't particularly, well, creepy.
No comments:
Post a Comment