Ari Aster Thinks the Greatest Movie of All Times is Made By Kurosawa (But Not The One You Think)
A recommendation that will bring even those who do not like horror movies to the genre.
Director Ari Aster, who made the groundbreaking horror movies Hereditary and Midsommar, has released a new movie, Beau Is Afraid.
Fans of the director should not expect anything similar to Aster's previous work – this time the plot is much more complex, unpredictable and, unexpectedly, not at all scary.
However, the director recently shared what he thinks is the best movie ever made, and it turned out to be a horror. But not just any horror.
In an interview with The Criterion Collection, Aster said: "There's an argument to be made that Cure by Kiyoshi Kurosawa is the greatest movie ever made."
If movie lovers in general are familiar with Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, then horror fans are a little closer to his namesake, Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
He directed the magnetic horror movie Pulse in 2001 and the equally magnificent horror Cure four years earlier.
Detective Kenichi Takabe's life is hard – he should investigate a series of strange murders. Suspects are attacking relatives and friends for no apparent reason, killing them in particularly gruesome ways.
They also leave unexplained cross-shaped cuts on their victims' throats. This is all the more disturbing as the killers do not know each other and are unable to explain their motives.
Gradually, the investigation leads Takabe to a highly suspicious man who seems to be suffering from amnesia.
The plot is twisted, psychological, and original – especially considering that the next year, 1998, will see the release of The Ring, and the Japanese, riding the wave of commercial success, will be obsessed with Sadako and her clones for a long time.
In this sense, of course, Cure is orders of magnitude higher than standard stories about vengeful ghosts. The movie touches on a variety of topics, from family life to the nature of the murders to outright diabolism.
One thing to note — you will be disappointed if you are expecting scary boys covered in flour from Japanese movies and women with long black hair jumping on the ceilings.
Spoiler alert, none of that will be in Cure.
Source: The Criterion Collection