The film, Cure (1997), a psychological thriller directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, demonstrates a brilliant battle of wits. Pitting a police inspector named Takabe (Yakusyo Koji) against an enigmatic drifter by the name of Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara), the latter has the ability to hypnotize and tempt others to commit murder as a means to cure their frustration. While taking the form of a thriller featuring a unique psychopathic serial killer, Kurosawa presents a documentary-like perspective. In the film, people living in Tokyo during the 1990s are depicted as deeply frustrated. Their silent troubles are reflected in the poor communication between a husband and wife, fatigue experienced by an overloaded worker, and finally, the suppressed feeling by a female who is stymied by the lack of professional advancement.
As a master of hypnotism, the character of Mamiya is one of the most unique manipulators in all of Japanese film history. Kurosawa constructs a persona that reveals a strategically depressive point of view which posits that, anybody could murder his wife, colleague, or the opposite sex, if they are close, as long as they feel unconsciously stressed for them. This presentation seeks to examine how terror and the Japanese modern Gothic are presented in Kurosawa’s screenplay. Thus, the visual style will be analysed through an examination of the character Mamiya’s uncanny ability to manipulate others through the use of language. In essence, this study will also accentuate how the unfathomable depth of frustration of living in urban society plays out in the experience of modern Tokyo.
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