chairvaincre
Overall, this movie (and Cure for that matter) is nicely done. With Seance, appropriately, a lot of negative space mise-en-scene was deftly carried out; with Cure, narrative as well as formal (eg spliced split-second frames, abrupt scene cuts etc) ellipses are done well with good editing. I liked the continuity of both the protagonist and the restaurant (albeit from a different shooting angle) through both films. My only problem with it (and Cure) is that sometimes the aesthetics feels contrived, and the understatement/'minimalism' is, ironically, overwrought & cliché. There's no greatness here (in terms of psychological horror/terror, there are much more genius auteurs in both the East and West, eg the 'other' Kurosawa's Rashomon and Polanski's earlier films, to name a few respectively), but it has thought, and is still better than 90% of the sh*t out there.
kayakofan
Despite clearly being a TV movie, this film is yet another amazing and film from legendary director Kiyoshi Kurosawa ("Cure", "Kairo"). The main plot revolves around Junco and Saito, who are a troubled married couple. Saito works as a sound man for TV shows, while Junco stays at home. Junco has the power of foresight, so she sometimes holds séances. When a little girl is kidnapped, Junco devises a plan that will make her famous. What she doesn't know is that if she is not careful, the plan can backfire...Since I am a huge fan of Asian horror/suspense films, I loved this. The tension is high throughout, and the scares are purely psychological. No cheap jumps here. Instead you get some pretty horrifying scenes, that will stay with you long after you see this movie. This film also has a valuable message in the end. I know it's not for everybody, but I highly recommend this. I simply loved it.My rating: 10/10
kairothon
Something a bit strange for a Kurosawa movie, Korei is (debatably) a remake of an old American movie (of the same name, if memory serves). It seems that in some of the scenes Kurosawa is much more focused on replicating the emotions of the domestic experience than trying to scare. After all, anyone who's seen Kairo, Cure or Charisma knows he has nearly master the latter. Because of this, if find that Korei is not as frightening as his typical fair. Also, some of the household drama comes off forced for the near first-timer in this field.
But another way of thinking about it: it seems there is a pronounced old-time hollywood feel to some of the home scenes which may have been very intentional. All of the movie is presented as a sort of reference to this: the lightning behind the characters as they think evil thoughts, the simplicity of most of the shots (devoid of the overwhelming atmosphere typically present in K. Kurosawa films), even the fair simplicity of the characters. If it is seen this way (which i am increasingly convinced is how it may have been intended) then it is possible that the unlikely touches seen in this movie are not a failure at all, but an attempt at a homage. Whether that homage is a failure or not, I am in no position to say.
Clemens Schwaighofer
My first movie at Viennale'2000 and it is this one! I have never seen it before and therefore didn't know anything about it, but I have never expected to see something wonderful like this.In it's 95 minutes running time I was thrilled, there wasn't a single minute when I was bored, or distracted. The main actors played really great and the whole ambiente of the movie set was excellent.Sure he used a bit "6th sense", as you can see the breath and the dead people, but IMO it's much better than the 6th sense!If you can watch this movie, do it! Don't wait, don't hesitate, it's absolute worth the time!
AD
