If this is supposed to be one of his weaker efforts I'm not buying it the way Kurosawa creates suspense out of nothing but spaces is truly remarkable and then there are moments of horror which seem oddly sentimental giving his style an element of contradiction, the ghosts in this film are scary but also express a sense of sadness one scare in particular when you watch a muddy body yearning for contact, so close to his body yet so distant was one of the most distinct feelings I've ever had watching a film. The film follows up on the themes of Seance, we witness people rising from the dead and two very different men commit the same murder.

there's something in the swamp, something in the depths...something ancient....do we dare try to uncover the mystery? what is waiting in store for us: love and adventure, or misery? will we find death, decay and decomposition, or romance, rebirth, and recomposition? we must find out the truth....

What is the point in even sleeping? Total differentiated terror: my favorite Kurosawa. Incredible editing matches silence with noise and dead space with activity.

LOFT starts off unrelentingly with its sense of dread and isolation. Every scene is agonizing to sit through because of how creepy and disquieting it is. It captures a feeling that I haven’t felt since Pulse, and it makes this first half borderline unwatchable for me. I don’t know what Kurosawa does, but he’s the only director who can truly terrorize me. Pulse for example is the epitome of this... I’ve seen it once, and the second viewing ended with me turning it off. It’s the only film that truly scares me. I thought LOFT joined it for a moment, but by the hour mark, it sadly delves into some cliches and drops a lot of the subtlety that made the earlier portions so unsettling. Regardless, this is a good but flawed film from an expert director, a master of the genre.

Waiting for dread. In some ways, the most generic film from Kurosawa’s mature period (give or take if one counts Penance as a film) and as such it is certainly of interest as opportunity to observe how some J Horror affections are used by him. Loft does conform to a certain idea of Kyioshi Kurosawa film, that I think never quite reaches the off-balance quality of his very best work. The bleak disarrangement is there, but it never hit the disquiet he can achieve, maybe because too often it seems to exist as given from both a genre and authorial perspective.

While Kurosawa films are generally ambiguous, Loft stacks seen and unseen forces in a way that multiple, layered readings are possible. The key scene is a flashback in the middle of the film that can be read at least three ways. There are also various modes of "haunting" going on--the most unusual being when characters begin speaking in what seems to be dialogue from another character's manuscript. The minimal surface of a film revolving around five characters and a few simple locations disguises what may be Kurosawa's most structurally complex film.

Watched during my Summer of J-Horror.

Continuing to work through Kurosawa's filmography, with this one being one of his less regarded features. Unfortunately, I can see why. His signature atmosphere is aplenty, and there are several unsettling sequences that get under your skin, but the plot bears too much of Kurosawa's signature convolution as well, compounded by how rapidly story beats will crescendo after lengths of little to no development. The two lead performances are good (though their romance felt hammy and forced), but I was not impressed with Hidetoshi Nishijima, who never really sold me on his more intensive scenes further into the film. The connective web of events felt muddy and the payoffs were largely unsatisfying, particularly the abrupt to the point of being humorous finale. For what it's worth, the makeup effects look great though.

If I ever had the opportunity to meet Kiyoshi Kurosawa, I’d try not to blow smoke up his arse too much, so I’d be sure to ask him what he was thinking when he made Loft.

“Kurosawa-san, is it a mummy movie, a murder mystery, a romance or… were you just having a laugh?”

Really, the thing seems too superficial for a director like KK. I know he has a sense of humour – he plays himself in one of Kôji Shiraishi’s films, after all – but Loft is too silly to be taken seriously and too serious to be enjoyed as simple spooky entertainment.

Regardless, the film is well made, as you’d expect from the director at this point in his career. I mean, it’s nicely photographed and deliberately paced, all that good Kurosawa stuff, and replete with the kind of disquieting ambience that is present in the best of his work.

It wasn’t a dream!

Last friday I woke up around four in the morning by something or someone lifting up my mattress and later attacking my neck and arms and it hurt so bad, I have never been so scared and terrified in my whole life. The day after I noticed that I had bruises over my arm. I really really believe it was a ghost bc I swear I woke up I remember how I stared into the wall as the event goes on. I may got some extra trauma to add in my baggage but I’m still obsessed with ghosts and ghost movies and Kiyoshi Kurosawa is my hero. He understands. And I feel understood.

Cheap-looking, overlong and boring. This is the same dude that made Cure?

No matter how different the simile method is, simile is simile. (-)

this is reality

this one really is impossible to reconcile huh

Maybe I'm just bad with symbols and metaphors I have no fricken clue. This one was confusing for sure but it also sort of felt like a farewell tbh. The story of the author running out of creativity and the idea of "everything you write gets published because that's the nature of being a pro." feels like its talking about kurosawas feelings of being a director at that point. pretty good, but very confusing.

a ghost is the perfect metaphor for loneliness, even as it's reaching out for you you can't touch it. everyone in kurosawa's films is haunted before the ghosts even show up. coughing up the mud from a mummy's stomach is some very pointed forshadowing. everything is literal and figurative at the same time

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I'm not sure why this film doesn't get brought up in discussions of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's oeuvre and J-horror more generally; it's one of the stronger contenders I've seen.

The setting is perfect for this downplayed ghost story / mystery. The audience comes in cold, just as out of place as the main character.

Usually I find expository dialogue annoying, but it works so well here to move the plot forward.

Though I have some qualms with the film, I overall enjoyed it. I have yet to find a Kiyoshi Kurosawa mystery either overwrought or predictable.

No es novedad que me quede a cuadros con una película de Kiyoshi Kurosawa, pero esta vez, es porque de verdad no me he enterado de nada. Loft se deja ver bastante bien, tiene un ritmo un poco irregular a veces (con algunos flashbacks que te mete por la cara), pero en general no pesa demasiado. El tema está en que ahí se queda, no he logrado sacar nada interesante de ella ni nada que no se me vaya a olvidar en 2 días. La fotografía, como en las otras dos películas suyas que he visto, es más que notable, pero eso, que no hay mucho más por donde rascar.

Como estudiante que lleva con la asignatura de arqueología en la carrera 2 años, para matar al tío este y su supuesta "restauración".

Upping my rating a couple days later because this one hasn't let go of me. It's full of sublime imagery and has gained some really unsettling resonances in the Plague Era.