DNA cinephile🏳️🌈’s review published on Letterboxd:
Pulse. Kairo. 2001. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
As I watched Ryusuke Hamaguchi win an Oscar for Best International Feature and it was the third time a Japanese film had been nominated for Best Picture, I had tears of joy streaming down my face. Japanese films have been near and dear to us (DNA) since the J-horror movies began. Pulse is among one of the first J-horror films we saw together when we were dating 21 years ago. Pulse quickly gained a cult following and Kiyoshi Kurosawa wrote an eponymous novel that was very successful as well.
Pulse has two stories that overlap and deal with ghosts taking over Japan and the world. The World Wide Web was blowing up in popularity on 2001 as I was in College working on Three Undergraduate Degrees. Superstitions were all around regarding the harmful nature of the internet. For example, people could learn how to build bombs, hacking was becoming more profound regarding government secrets, and a great deal of individuals believed it was harkening the end of the world. We were not among this crowd or belief system.
I am a scientist and believe in data. However, the cinephile side of me enjoys movies that propel profound fiction. Kurosawa is a master. As more and more people were being attacked by ghosts that were coming from the internet, they relied on computer scientists to guide them. As lonely college students relied on the internet for chat rooms, course assignments etc. more and more ghosts were saturating Tokyo. Will those who rely on the World Wide Web survive? Will those around the world who rely on internet technology survive? That is the big thesis statement that Kurosawa’s protagonists must grapple with until they find a way out. In addition, Kurosawa’s ability to blend genres is so seamless and brilliant that as one watches his films, you can see how progressive he was and didn’t get the recognition from the awards circuit he deserved. He got the Un Certain Regard Award (Nominee) at Cannes Film Festival in 2001 and Kumiko Aso was the Japanese Professional Movie Award Winner for Best Actress.
Viewed in Theater in 2001.
Purchased on Apple TV.
Lists:
Kiyoshi Kurosawa List
Asian Cinema List
Top 500+ films by DNA
Japanese Films
