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.

film-29 From then on, alas, this movie turns into a cheap TV horror movie –one of the cheapest genres ever existed. When I saw Kôrei I've already seen the very interesting Kaïro, also by Kiyoshi Kurosawa; after that positive impression had someone told me that Mr. Kurosawa was capable of clumsiness when dealing with a fantastic story I wouldn't lend him or her ears, but unfortunately that would be true. When I'm seeing a movie or reading a story I can suspend my feeling of disbelief and believe in a ghost, I don't have problems with unreality, whereas I cannot believe when the characters in a story abruptly and against their own psychology, start to act the opposite way they would. Mr. Kurosawa needs his story to go in one direction and forces the characters and the plot to achieve his needs. That is one of the biggest mistake an author can make. Anyway –this a a TV movie– nonetheless, if you liked it, see Dark Water (http://imdb.com/title/tt0308379/), The Eye (http://imdb.com/title/tt0325655/) and Kaïro (http://imdb.com/title/tt0286751/), they're better, far better than the last 54 minutes of this one. Of course, you always can stop the DVD player when the display shows you 42 minutes; you'll be sparing yourselves the disappointment of seeing how the very decent first part of this movie helplessly wrecks.

cecilparks This movie should not be seen as a straightforward ghost movie, nor as a basic series of set-ups, struggles and resolutions. It is a gripping movie, masterfully shot, bleak in its vision yet assembled with an inspiring meticulousness.Junco is a psychic who feels trapped by her extra-sensory powers in more than one way. For one, she cannot hold a regular job, despite her best efforts. She is also aware that her gift will never be completely understood or taken seriously by the public at large, not even by those who seek her help.When a freak coincidence lands a missing girl in her husband Katsuhiko's hardware case - after the police, as a last resort, has asked for her advice about the case - she sees it as a possible opportunity to make a name for herself as a serious and respected psychic, while clearing her husband and her of any responsibility in the girl's disappearance. She sees a way out the couple's humdrum, boring life, and her husband wants to believe it too. Needless to say, not much goes according to plan.**NOTE** About the doppelganger appearing in the movie, as mentionned in a comment below. The double does represent impending death for Katsuhiko. The decision to have him burn his double alive was a way to show how he is not willing to accept a fate he has not chosen.

marushka72 This is a movie that famed director Kiyoshi Kurosawa made by demand for a TV company, after the success of Ringu. Well, there's a kind of Sadako feeling to it, the girls looks a lot like the one in Hideo Nakata's Dark water... but this is a flawed movie. Terrible script. Not scary at all (and I scare so easy! that's why I love terror movies). Forgettable.For instance (spoiler coming) at the very beginning of it, the psychological expert tells us about how, when a person sees her or his doppelganger, double, it's an omen of death. And then, one of the main characters actually goes through this experience... and doesn't die! Why sow a seed if you ain't going to follow it to the very consequences? I really don't get what's all the fuss about this guy... I love Japanese movies, I study Japanese, so if I find a Japanese movie too boring, I just listen... but I think this guy is overrated.