Ever finished a movie and have no idea what you just watched?

That’s Kiyoshi Kurasawa’s Japanese 1997 film “Cure” in a nutshell.

Here’s the shape of the plot. A police detective is assigned to investigate a series of murders. The catch is, the killers have been caught, but they have no good explanation for their crimes and their memory seems flawed.

But we, the viewers, are allowed to see that each of these murderers is visited by a strange young man before they commit their crimes. He seems to hypnotize folks in a way that propels them to violence.

But that’s only a brief look at the story; there’s plenty of other weirdness and a head-scratching ending.

And, bit of spoiler alert here, but the mystery is never truly resolved. There are some references to techniques of the 18th century hypnotist Franz Mesmer (where the term mesmerized comes from), but the details are never really explained.

It’s all very David Lynch.

I’ve seen commenters make the assertion that American viewers need their plots wrapped up in a bow. Maybe there’s some truth to that, though I’ve seen plenty of foreign cinema and usually things are resolved.

All in all, though, I think “Cure” works once you let the strangeness settle. I found myself coming up with various explanations that tied things up. In a way, Kurasawa (not related to the famous Akira Kurosawa, by the way) is inviting the viewer in on the creative process. “You want an ending? Make one up!”