Seance (2001)

Critic Reviews

Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
Junko suffers from Lady Macbeth syndrome with a 21st-century careerist twist: Her ambition is strictly for herself, and she'll kill to satisfy it, quickly and coldly.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Under Kurosawa's richly stylized direction it's kept moody, atmospheric and what seems only frivolous entertainment becomes something that's more provocative.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Kurosawa's film is creepy -- the atmosphere is bathed in dread -- but rarely frightening.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
Its portrait of spiritual estrangement generates profound unease.

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Drew S

Seance doesn't work as well as Pulse, another one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's movies, because there's no real foundation for the slow-burn atmosphere. Pulse featured a plot about isolation, so the film felt appropriately lonely and claustrophobic. Seance feels like it's… More
Seance doesn't work as well as Pulse, another one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's movies, because there's no real foundation for the slow-burn atmosphere. Pulse featured a plot about isolation, so the film felt appropriately lonely and claustrophobic. Seance feels like it's being slow for the hell of it. Still, I love Kurosawa's style. It's distinctive, beautiful, wildly evocative and allows an audience to use their imaginations. The plot of this movie did seem a little more coherent than Pulse at times, and I loved the characters. Jun Fubuki gives a great, psychologically charged performance as a psychic woman who's sick of living in the spotlight of her successful husband, a performance that ultimately carries the plot of the entire movie. This one will try your patience, but be good to it - it has a lot to give.
alan j

Slow, plodding, bland drama with a couple coffee spillers thrown it. Uneven with plot holes (beating a ghost with a stick?), the film comes to an unexpected halt (I think they ran out of film and decided to go with what they had). Don't expect much and you wont be disappointed.