lbongartz

Kurosawa masterfully plays with the human psyche and its inherent need for explanation....

Although I'm a great fan of the way Japanese filmmakers tell stories , this movie was still quite a brain-teaser! In 'western' story-telling there's always a clear distinction between the good side and the evil side. In Japanese stories,this distinction is often more vague, which makes the story behave more like the real-world. If you seek simple amusement and a puzzle that is gradually but surely solved by the detective, this movie is not for you. The movie begins like a straight-forward serial killer story, but soon changes from a 'whodunit' to a more enigmatic 'HOW-dunit'.

The sometimes apparently random introduction of characters, events and clues to the story, and the way the personae subsequently derange from their expected behavior in the course of events, adds to the shock and never gives you any solid ground to identify and sympathize with the characters or to get a grip on the story. You have the feeling you're constantly put on the wrong track. You're brain is desperately trying to put the puzzle together but it's no good. Sometimes they find a clue that might solve the puzzle, but a moment later you realize they're on the wrong track, leaving you completely clueless again. 'Kyua' leaves you with mixed feelings: amazed, unfulfilled, puzzled, scared, disgusted, and everything in between. All you want to do is to watch it again and make sense of it all, in spite of the fact that you know that it's no good.