Saturday at 8:45 and 11:00, you have a chance to see Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure at the Vancity Theatre. I want to add to what I've written below only that indeed, Cure is a masterful film - highly compelling and rewarding, an utter masterpiece of a sort, so good that I am considering seeing it again tomorrow. It is very slow and restrained, but has amazing atmosphere and music (and in fact, I grudgingly must acknowledge that the Tarkovsky comparison isn't entirely dumbfuck, after all, based on pacing alone; Session 9 is a more appropriate point of comparison, however. Seven and The X-Files are also clear reference points, too, as City Reels suggests - though there's something of Michael Mann's Manhunter in it, too). The guide is quite correct to talk about Aum Shinrikyo as a reference point. I never expected to think of the New Model Army while watching it, but I did - their song about becoming a member of a cult, of sorts, "One of the Chosen" -- one of Justin Sullivan's most brilliant and effective moments as a songwriter of late. The film tries to get inside the mind of those who would seduce others to murder... and the minds of the seduced, while asking meta-narrative questions about our relationship to the horror genre. This is a very, very smart film. If you enjoy thinking about horror movies and what they reveal about human psychology, it is simply a must-see.
Did I mention that the New Model Army are coming in October? That's the plan - it's made their website, at least. Though don't worry... I believe it won't be held at the Balmoral.
Saw the film again w. my friend Teddy Stinks, who had many interesting things to say on the "reactionary" aspects of the film; he promptly convinced me that there was an unsubtle fear of "westernization" running through this film - a subtle and pervasive paranoia that the lack of a pure Japanese identity ("who are you," Mamiya always asks) renders us vulnerable to hypnosis by foreign "missionaries..." It was an interesting argument. I'd feel bad about usurping Teddy's right to lay it out for himself, though. Perhaps we can get a comment, Mr. Stinks?
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