Kiyoshi Kurosawa Spotlight

The multi-genre bending world of Kiyoshi Kurosawa

One’s view of Kiyoshi Kurosawa will vary depending on which film of his one comes across. He has directed various genre features ranging from horror (including ghost), crime (serial killer, yakuza), thriller, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi or pure drama (family, supernatural, historical). Take a few steps back and one can see threads of family/relationships running through his films and even romance, the everlasting kind that lingers after death. In fact, many of his features are hard to classify under one genre. Given his comfort with all genres, aspects of various genres blend into one film and for good reason. In Kurosawa’s films, genre is part of the film’s framework and helps bolster the overall story and social commentary on the human condition.  For example, a film like Pulse falls under horror category but blends mystery, sci-fi and is a smart commentary on the human condition and loneliness. 

Even though he has directed multiple genre films, he has still carved out his distinctive signature because all his films are anchored with a strong narrative-character framework. This spotlight focuses on 10 of his films across these different genres to get a true flavour of his work.

Notes on 10 films of Kiyoshi Kurasawa:

Cure (1997)

Serpent’s Path (1998)

License to Live (1998)

Pulse (2001)

Doppelganger (2003)

Tokyo Sonata (2008)

Journey to the Shore (2015)

Daguerrotype (2016)

Before We Vanish (2017)

Wife of a Spy (2020)

Crime without evidence

Multiple gruesome murders are committed in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure but it is not a single killer that performs the acts. Instead, loved ones or people close to the victims do the killing. Yet, the killers are not aware of their crimes as they are remotely driven by an unknown man.

The topography of Cure feels like that of a serial killer investigation film yet Kurosawa's film immediately stands apart because of the hands-off approach of the instigator who never really gets his own hands bloody. Yet, if one could open his brain, then one would see the images of blood that are being projected onto innocent would be killers. Also, another interesting layer added to the film is the weakening health of the lead police officer's wife, resulting in the killer exploiting the officer's mental state. Reality is toyed with especially in a case when the killer never has to kill a victim himself, which does raise some questions related to the true perpetrator of crimes.

Note: Kurosawa’s film predates both Bong Joon-Ho’s Memories of Murder (2003) and David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007), two stand-out murder investigation films.

Drama sprinkled with genre

Given that Kiyoshi Kurosawa made his name with horror and crime films, it is a huge surprise to see him change gears completely with the beautiful Tokyo Sonata which depicts the breakdown of a family and eventual rebirth. Ryuhei (Teruyuki Kagawa) loses his job and instead of telling his wife Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi), he continues to leave home everyday dressed for work while spending time on the streets or at a free soup kitchen. Megumi is slowly inching her way to independence but yearns for full freedom. Their elder son Takashi (Yu Koyanagi) is disenchanted with his life and believes his life would be better served by joining the American military. The youngest son Kenji (Kai Inowaki) also rebels against his parents by skipping school and using the money from his school fees to pay for secret piano lessons knowing full well that his father is against him learning music. Each character goes through a transformation after reaching a breaking point before awakening to a new dawn. Some of the family’s tender moments and even tensions share a bond with the cinema of Ozu.

Multiple Kiyoshi Kurosawa films can fall under the drama category but with unique variations that make the film hard to classify. For example, Journey to the Shore has the feel of a romantic drama about a married couple’s relationship except for a small caveat that the husband is actually dead and is a spirit who has returned to tie up a few loose threads with his wife. Wife of a Spy is dressed as a historical drama but leans heavily into a spy thriller framework but without the chases, explosions one would expect from a spy thriller. Then there is Daguerrotype which is a sumptuous fantasy drama where a daguerreotype photographer is obsessed with creating the perfect art form at the expense of his daughter’s health. However, a ghost haunts the frame and the house. In addition, the entire setting of the film in France and overall set design invokes early 19^th century even though the film is set in contemporary France.

The most straightforward drama film in this Spotlight is Kurosawa’s 1998 feature License to Live which centers around Yoshi (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who tries to rebuild his life after waking up from a 10-year coma. The film is drizzled with enough comedic elements which match the tone of the concept. The film also features an early look at actors who have become more popular over the decades. Hidetoshi Nishijima got plenty of recognition with Drive My Car (2021) but his character of Yoshi is one of his earliest feature roles; Kôji Yakusho has featured prominently in many Kurosawa films but this film along with Cure was his early collaboration with the director; Shô Aikawa found fame in Takashi Miike’s Dead or Alive films and one can get an early look at his distinctive style here; plus roles for Shun Sugata (Tokyo Vice) and also for Kôsuke Toyohara (Tokyo Vice, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah). On another note, the feel of License to Live has shades of Lee Chang-dong’s Green Fish (1997) which came out a year earlier.

Horror, Crime, Sci-Fi with some helping of dark comedy

Pulse is the most well-known horror film from Kurosawa’s filmography and like his other films, it isn’t confined to the horror genre. On the surface, Pulse belongs to same type of horror category as Ringu (1998) two films where technology is the medium for horror to be unleashed. However, Pulse then combines horror with sci-fi elements and a smart social commentary about loneliness and human connection. Pulse came out just as the internet was becoming commonplace and the horror in the film is transmitted to anyone whose computer is connected to the internet via a dial-up modem. In the film, people are starting to form connections only virtually and losing face-to-face social connections. An observation from a character in the film is that everyone is sitting lifelessly in front of their computer and she notes that it is hard to tell if those people are already dead or still alive. In a way, Pulse was decades ahead of its time and came out long before smart phones, laptops and other devices allowed people to be constantly connected on the internet. The loneliness and erosion of community that Pulse raises has increased substantially over the last two decades.

Like Pulse, Doppleganger is another film that was well ahead of its time. The film raises questions about Robots, Engineering and the race to harness such technology first. The core concept in the film centers around people’s doubles who mysteriously start appearing. This sci-fi scenario raises questions about who is the authentic person and who can be expendable, which in turn can be extended to apply to our contemporary world where AI is replacing the work of humans. In the film, the doubles gradually replace the main character as someone in the film notes that the original and copy can’t co-exist. However, the exception is the robot inventor Hayasaki (played by Kurosawa regular Kôji Yakusho) who learns to share work and responsibilities with his double as both are different personalities. In a way, Hayasaki’s double is akin to a Hayasaki robot, same look but none of the emotional weakness of Hayasaki. The film starts off with deaths that feel like an extension of Pulse but the film quickly changes tone to sci-fi and then comedy, both dark and slapstick. The film was clearly decades ahead of Hollywood’s AI/robot fantasies.

Before We Vanish is unlike any other alien invasion film. It starts off with gory blood before layering the material with some absurd humour before giving into its sci-fi elements. With this film, Kurosawa again shows his artistry in creating a multi-layered film. The film also has oodles of humour but in unexpected ways.

Some traces of humour can be found in Serpent’s Path although those aren’t as apparent as the film is a crime thriller. The location of a warehouse and two men threatening criminals reminds of Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs but without any of the punchy dialogue of Tarantino’s film. Serpent’s Path falls under the V-Cinema category which means straight to video and that is apparent from the film’s lower production value compared to other Kurosawa films.

Overall comments

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to Japanese legend Akira Kurosawa, who is easily one of World Cinema’s most celebrated directors. While the same last name may have brought some pressure, Kiyoshi has carved out his own unique place in both Japanese and World cinema. Kiyoshi’s name is most associated with horror cinema but he has shown his talents in a variety of genres. More importantly, his films have predicated the future by accurately taking the pulse of new technology and extrapolating them to show scenarios which may have seemed unrealistic two decades ago but have come to fruition. This is why I am looking forward to seeing his newest film Cloud (2024) to see how he has built on what Pulse showed. Also, I want to view his new Serpent’s Path (2024) which transports the 1998 film story to France and is an updated remake. With a mixed French-Japanese cast and more budget, it will be interesting to see how Kurosawa has updated the material from the original V-Cinema film.

Ranking all 10 films in this Spotlight:

1. Tokyo Sonata (2008)

2. Cure (1997)

3. Pulse (2001)

4. Wife of a Spy (2020)

5. Doppelganger (2003)

6. Before We Vanish (2017)

7. Journey to the Shore (2015)

8. Daguerrotype (2016)

9. License to Live (1998)

10. Serpent’s Path (1998)