A MESMERIZING LOOK AT EVIL DEEDS.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been the hottest name in Japanese cinema for a number of years now. Naturally, his eerie, probing movies are just making it to these shores now. But if the 1997 ``Cure'' is any indicator, the wait has been worth it.

Rigged as a police procedural of slightly supernatural serial killings, ``Cure'' has been widely compared to ``Seven'' but, in the end, it turns out to be a very smart companion piece to this year's leading best movie contender, ``Memento.'' The Kurosawa film has gotten some knocks for what seems - deceptively, it turns out - a fizzling, non-committal ending. But read right, this is another sublime exploration of the ways memories obscure motive and work to cushion us from our darker impulses ... and not for the better for the world at large.

Koji Yakusho, the popular star of ``Shall We Dance,'' ``The Eel'' and ``Eureka,'' plays Detective Takabe, one of the more plausible cops-on- the-edge we've seen in a while. He's investigating a baffling series of grisly murders, all following the same pattern but performed by different, otherwise perfectly placid individuals.

The perpetrators are always found near the scenes of their crimes, which they've often committed upon close associates or loved ones. The killers are devastated by their actions and recall performing the bloody deeds but can't remember why they did.

As if Takabe's investigation wasn't unsettling enough, he has no respite at home. His wife, Fumie (Anna Nakagawa), is slowly losing her mind, and her memory lapses too closely mirror those of the killers.

Matters only get worse for Takabe's troubled psyche when the rampage's catalyst is caught. Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara), a hauntingly thin, perhaps brain-damaged drifter, seems bereft of any memory at all. He often doesn't seem to know who he is and has the annoying habit of constantly asking others who they are - and right after they've just told him, for the third or fourth time.

A former psychology student with a distinct interest in mesmerism, Mamiya obviously possesses extraordinary hypnotic powers. But as we learn more about both his and Takabe's inner lives, Mamiya's favorite, nagging question takes on deeper and even more sinister significance.

The director, who is not related to the late master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, is quite the wiz at evasively uninflected insidiousness himself. He frames his everyday settings in long, apparently simple takes that don't call attention to the camera being handheld, but are just wobbly enough to evoke discomfort. The soundtrack is full of ambient noises - waves, wind, electrical hum, the always-running clothes dryer that signals to Takabe, whenever he returns home, that Fumie has gotten no better - that do the job more subtly than any mood music could.

And because Kurosawa restrains himself from the usual thriller movie pyrotechnics, when Takabe's reality begins to crumble into nightmare and (worse) self-revelation, the disorientation is palpable and persuasive. ``Cure'' may indeed be a little frustrating plotwise, but its astute inquiries into how human minds operate make it one of the few psychological mysteries truly worthy of the name.

``CURE''

(Not rated: violence, language, nudity)

The stars: Koji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Produced by Tsutomu Tsuchikawa. Released by Cowboy Booking International.

Running time: One hour, 55 minutes.

Playing: Nuart, West L.A.

Our rating: Three and one half stars