criterionforum.org

Coming April 23rd

Released to critical acclaim in both the East and the West, Cure was a breakthrough film for director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a nerve shredding thriller about the hunt for a serial killer in a bleak and decaying Tokyo.

A series of murders have been committed by ordinary people who claim to have had no control over their horrifying actions. Following the only link a mysterious stranger who had brief contact with each perpetrator and their victim detective Kenichi Takabe (Kôji Yakusho, 13 Assassins, Tokyo Sonata) places his own sanity on the line as he tries to end the wave of inexplicable terror.

Described as one of the greatest films of all time by Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Snowpiercer), Cure is a deeply unsettling masterpiece of its genre, and has shockingly been unavailable on home video in the UK until now. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Cure in a special Dual Format edition.

DUAL FORMAT SPECIAL FEATURES

• Limited Edition O-card [2000 copies First Print Run Only]
• 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray, with a progressive encode on the DVD
• Original Japanese Stereo audio (Uncompressed LPCM on the Blu-ray)
• Optional English subtitles
• A new video interview with critic & author Kim Newman
• An archival interview with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• Original theatrical trailer
• A collector s booklet featuring an essay by Tom Mes

Now this is some great news! Hopefully it'll be a big improvement on the HVE release. Did this ever get a hi def release in Japan?

It's one of my top three horror films so I'm thrilled it's getting a nice package released here though I'm not holding out any hope that Eureka were given anything other than a dated master. But perhaps Cure was treated better than Pulse and Dark Water. Kim Newman and Tom Mes are fantastic choices to talk/write about this film and the slipcover looks cool. Given the likely imperfections with the source, this does look like the best possible release under the circumstances.

Stupid question time.

Since this is almost certainly going to be region-locked like their blurays of JOURNEY TO THE SHORE and CREEPY, has anyone heard any rumblings of an eventual region 1 version of CURE? Arrow, of course, did PULSE, but I can't imagine they'd only licence the North American version of this one.

Criterion has the US rights (and has for a looong time). I don't think there has been any rumblings of a physical release.

Rats.

Thanks for the answer, though.

Finch wrote:It's one of my top three horror films so I'm thrilled it's getting a nice package released here though I'm not holding out any hope that Eureka were given anything other than a dated master. But perhaps Cure was treated better than Pulse and Dark Water. Kim Newman and Tom Mes are fantastic choices to talk/write about this film and the slipcover looks cool. Given the likely imperfections with the source, this does look like the best possible release under the circumstances.

I can only really compare with Arrow's PULSE release from last year, but to me the master for CURE looks like at least a slight step up judging by this trailer alone. I though PULSE looked authentic, and am actually kinda glad these grimy, atmospheric J-horrors aren't getting spit-shined too much. I've yet to check out my copies of DARK WATER or AUDITION though, and wouldn't say no to a fresh scan of JU-ON: THE GRUDGE if Arrow could ever accomplish such a thing.

So, any updates? Anyone know what kind of transfer we can expect?

MoC can be strange, when they boast of “stunning” or “beautiful “ transfers they are actually among their most flawed or uneven releases. And often when they don’t make big claims, often we see stunning transfers.

Obviously not even a hint. Has anyone viewed a screener copy yet?

Pleasingly surprised. It certainly doesnt look like a tremendous presentation, but knowing the spotty record with Japanese movies, I expected it to look much worse.

It does look very reasonable. Relieved to see those caps.

Yeah, I'm also relieved. At worst, I was expecting an upscaled from SD affair. The lighter look is encouraging. As shown in the caps, that HVE dvd looks overcast by comparison.

I was going to buy this, regardless. But now I have no qualms.

I've alerted Eureka on Facebook to what might be a one-off or printing error with all booklets from the first run: my booklet in the copy sold from Amazon had a blank page with no text from Tom Mes's essay, page 8. Anyone else had this?

Film itself remains deeply disturbing, and is IMO superior to Pulse which, while very powerful in its own right, feels meandering by comparison. The image is alright but if either the Japanese or Criterion were to release this in a fresh resto, I'd not hesitate to buy the film again for a third time.

I’ve seen a few Kurosawa and feel this is how Cure is supposed to look. It’s almost like he shoots some of his films to resemble a film played on SD-DVD as he washes out colours, flattens perspective and hides important details in shadows. It’s not going to win any awards for best release or restoration, but Eureka’s presentation of this remarkable, challenging and beguiling film feels true. Some films just aren’t supposed to look great in HD.

When I saw Eureka’s Tokyo Sonata B-R I started to wonder if it was an outdated master (admittedly it’s one of their oldest B-R titles) during a murky scene, but as the scene progressed, and as a character reached a moment of clarity, Kurosawa added light to the sequence, which picked out previously concealed details. With this director it is hard to be sure whether he filmed it that way, or if it’s been prepared that way for home video...

I’ve heard controversy surrounding the Pulse release by Arrow, on one side that it’s a disappointing transfer, and on the other that it’s how the film was actually lensed. I wonder if Kurosawa is a playful director, messing around with our expectations and perceptions of how a film should look, and blurring the line between video and film?

Finch wrote:I've alerted Eureka on Facebook to what might be a one-off or printing error with all booklets from the first run: my booklet in the copy sold from Amazon had a blank page with no text from Tom Mes's essay, page 8. Anyone else had this?

It’s not unique to your copy, mine has the same issue.

UPDATE: I emailed Eureka and got a quick response, which said they’re aware of the issue and that they’re having replacement booklets printed, but didn’t suggest a date as to when they might be ready.

M Sanderson wrote:I’ve heard controversy surrounding the Pulse release by Arrow, on one side that it’s a disappointing transfer, and on the other that it’s how the film was actually lensed. I wonder if Kurosawa is a playful director, messing around with our expectations and perceptions of how a film should look, and blurring the line between video and film?

All I can say is that I watched Pulse on a 58" screen and at no point did I feel that the transfer was impeding my enjoyment. And I don't find it at all hard to believe that it was supposed to look like that.

Received my copy (and pretty damn fast) and I also have the booklet issue. I just hope that MoC will send replacement booklets to the states.

Eureka has posted on bluray.com that they are replacing the booklets. Contact them here [email protected]

Dark Water and Pulse/Kairo, films by different directors, look very similar in their Blu-ray incarnations, basically like SD video. I saw both at the theater and I don't remember them looking that way, they looked like celluloid, dark and burnished but not with that loss of definition and sludgy grain which you get on the Blu-ray. I also remember that with Pulse the sound design was outstanding. I'd rarely encountered a use of surround sound and back speakers in particular to such startling effect, while the Blu-ray has a 2 channel mix which keeps getting referred to as the original sound in all reviews I read. The 5.1 mix was preserved on the Chinese DVD which I had, though the PQ already looked as disappointing as the Blu-ray. During the first wave of J-horror I used to import most of these films on DVD from China, Korea and Japan and PQ was always poor. I think the HD masters they struck back then for the DVDs weren't up to scratch and they still are the only sources made available now. I don't think Kurosawa meant for his films to look like that.

These BDs very simply have the typical look of dated masters. While I don't doubt these movies are very stylistically crafted to begin with, the BDs have a typically dated look that I doubt is faithful to the original intentions (and this go also for Cure's release), at least in terms of definition.
I suppose it's another case of "we'll only settle this when / if a new restoration pops out".

MichaelB wrote:

M Sanderson wrote:I’ve heard controversy surrounding the Pulse release by Arrow, on one side that it’s a disappointing transfer, and on the other that it’s how the film was actually lensed. I wonder if Kurosawa is a playful director, messing around with our expectations and perceptions of how a film should look, and blurring the line between video and film?

All I can say is that I watched Pulse on a 58" screen and at no point did I feel that the transfer was impeding my enjoyment. And I don't find it at all hard to believe that it was supposed to look like that.

Yes, and also that, if improvements could be made to home video presentations Pulse - and Cure also - the differences would likely be marginal.

tenia wrote:These BDs very simply have the typical look of dated masters. While I don't doubt these movies are very stylistically crafted to begin with, the BDs have a typically dated look that I doubt is faithful to the original intentions (and this go also for Cure's release), at least in terms of definition.
I suppose it's another case of "we'll only settle this when / if a new restoration pops out".

fair enough, but I wonder who would be willing to undertake such restorations when they are likely to make only the most subtle of differences.

Asian cinema restoration certainly is a spotty area, in terms of dated masters and also controversial colour timing of the bigger restoration jobs.

Is there any indication of Kurosawa’s Retribution coming to Blu ray?