Cleveland Independent Movie Goers

Watch Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s last film & his most acclaimed feature back to back in this double feature presentation.

Chime

Kiyoshi Kurosawa Japan, 2024

A masterclass in escalating dread and shocking violence, Chime reaffirms Kiyoshi Kurosawa as one of modern horror’s most innovative and unpredictable visionaries. During a class, culinary instructor Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka) witnesses the suicide of a young student (Seiichi Kohinata), driven to insanity by what he claims is a chiming sound that controls his mind. Soon, Matsuoka begins hearing it, too, and descends into a mental abyss that warps his perception of reality and gives vent to his darkest impulses. Expertly blending psychological portraiture and hallucinatory mystery, Kurosawa offers a chilling depiction of madness that interrogates the very stability of our everyday existence, with the director’s patented creeping tracking shots and complex sound design fashioning an immersively terrifying and unnerving cinematic experience. 45 min.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chime

Cure

Kiyoshi Kurosawa Japan, 1997

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s spellbinding international breakthrough established him as one of the leaders of the emerging new wave of Japanese horror while pushing the genre into uncharted realms of philosophical and existential exploration. A string of shocking, seemingly unmotivated murders—each committed by a different person yet bearing the same grisly hallmarks—leads Detective Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho) into a labyrinthine investigation to discover what connects them, and into a disturbing game of cat and mouse with an enigmatic amnesiac (Masato Hagiwara) who may be evil incarnate. Awash in a mood of hushed, hypnotic dread, Cure is a tour de force of psychological tension and a hallucinatory journey into the darkest recesses of the human mind. 111 min.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cure_1997

We’ll meet in the lobby after the films and then walk together to the nearby restaurant for dinner and discussion.

In this witty, new breed of mystery, George (Hugh Jackman) is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can’t possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers.

Think “Knives Out” meets “Babe”

Genre: Detective, Comedy
Rated PG for thematic material, some violent content and brief language
Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_sheep_detectives

We’ll meet in the lobby after the film then walk together to the nearby restaurant for dinner and discussion. (I’m open to other restaurant suggestions).