Former pop star Atsuko Maeda is wonderful in the lead, the perfect match for Kurosawa's style, communicating volumes with the most delicate of expressions.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Former pop star Atsuko Maeda is wonderful in the lead, the perfect match for Kurosawa's style, communicating volumes with the most delicate of expressions.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Considering each aspect individually, this is a picture of outstanding quality, from the strong cast to the photography and haunting soundtrack to the acute character studies.

~ Emma Slawinski -

Considering each aspect individually, this is a picture of outstanding quality, from the strong cast to the photography and haunting soundtrack to the acute character studies.

~ Emma Slawinski -

On the one hand, Kiyoshi Kurosawa directs with admirable restraint... on the other violates credibility with a plot that is predictable and absurd.

~ Angus Wolfe Murray -

The combination of subtlety and indeterminacy makes for an uncanny treat.

~ Anton Bitel -

The combination of subtlety and indeterminacy makes for an uncanny treat.

~ Anton Bitel -

There's a wonderful flexibility to Fukatsu's performance as a woman who bears endless slights as she struggles to retain her decorum.

~ Jennie Kermode -

There's a wonderful flexibility to Fukatsu's performance as a woman who bears endless slights as she struggles to retain her decorum.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Like its subject, this is a film that takes time to develop.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Like its subject, this is a film that takes time to develop.

~ Jennie Kermode -

To assume it's just another routine serial killer yarn is to miss the emotional subtlety and sharp analysis of contemporary Japanese mores that underlie the greater horror.

~ Jennie Kermode -

To assume it's just another routine serial killer yarn is to miss the emotional subtlety and sharp analysis of contemporary Japanese mores that underlie the greater horror.

~ Jennie Kermode -

No less enigmatic, broad-reaching and majestically paced than a jellyfish.

~ Anton Bitel -

No less enigmatic, broad-reaching and majestically paced than a jellyfish.

~ Anton Bitel -

Sometimes absurd, sometimes bone-chilling, strikingly original.

~ Jennie Kermode -

Sometimes absurd, sometimes bone-chilling, strikingly original.

~ Jennie Kermode -