Pulse

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Year Released: 2001
Rating: 1.0

Thoroughly uninvolving: while it showed promise at the get-go as a superb techno thriller, it quickly degenerated into monotony and spoon-fed philosophy. The idea of ghosts wandering around the Internet (and the increasing detachment in social life - people not 'connecting,' everyone simply wandering in their own private world) is intriguing but the presentation is clumsy. Kurosawa has the approach of a painter - or, more accurately, a brilliant photographer - and his eye for framing and composition are almost unmatched (anyone interested in being a cinematographer should watch this). But like with Cure, there is never any emotional connection or anyone to be scared 'for,' resulting in an aesthetically pleasing (but laborious) think piece.