Michi turns up at Taguchi’s apartment to pick up a computer disk and to make sure he’s OK. Since he hangs himself, it’s clear he wasn’t OK. Another friend gets the disk, and then he begins to act strangely too. Meanwhile, Kawashima, a university student, is setting up his first computer. He’s frightened when it connects to the internet without his assistance and brings up a site that asks, “Would you like to meet a ghost?” and then shows videos of zombie-like people. Michi and Kawashima notice friends and strangers disappearing or committing suicide and begin to see ghosts in the real world. All they can do is try and keep their loved-ones alive.
Pulse is not what it seems to be, from the cover, advertisements, or even the first twenty minutes. It appears to be a Ringu clone, with a cursed computer disk standing in for the cursed tape. The first person with the disk dies in a bizarre manner and it’s clear to the viewer that a ghost is involved. The next person with the disk is effected while an unrelated person with a computer also runs into ghost problems. Sounds like Ringu. But then it all changes. Not only does it turn out that we had the rules wrong (the disk is of no importance), but Pulse isn’t even a horror movie. It is an art-house discourse on existentialism, with J-horror trappings. It isn’t scary; it’s depressing…in as good a way as “depressing” can be. I don’t normally think of depressing as a positive thing in film, but there are always exceptions.
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is known for obscure movies and Pulse is more cryptic than most. He simply doesn’t care about making sense or filling in the blanks. This ends up being both refreshing and frustrating. I like having some events left open to interpretation, but we’re approaching the level of making up our own movie. Why are the ghosts appearing? (One character does have a theory, that he pulls out of nowhere, but it’s never followed up.) Why does everyone mark ghost portals with red tape? Why are the dead on the internet? Why does no one discuss the decreasing population until the streets are nearly empty? What happens when a person meets a ghost? Why do main characters wander off? Why do those same characters take most of the actions they do? We are not being left to puzzle out the answers on our own because there are no answers.
Kurosawa is working purely on the level of theme, and as long as the theme is clear, the rest can be indecipherable. Pulse isn’t about ghosts or frights. It’s about isolation. We are alone now and we will be alone forever. Death makes no difference. There is only loneliness. Sound cheerful? It’s not, though it is artfully told. There are a few swings at modern life, particularly our gadgets that are supposed to be bringing us together, but are really separating us even more, but that’s just part of the bigger notion that one person never truly connects to another.
So, can a two hour philosophical essay on alienation be a good time? Surprisingly yes, with a few caveats. The weakness isn’t in the message (though he does hammer it home). With so little sense behind characters’ behaviors, the movie drags at the beginning of the third act. Plus the entire film is distancing. Yes, it’s about loneliness, but it would have been more effective to let us feel that loneliness instead of keeping us purely as voyeurs. Rarely does the camera move in. The movie has been constructed from mid and long shots. The music editing is also problematic. Songs start and stop suddenly, as if a tape broke.
Pulse is a good film straining to be a great one. The ending is powerful and there are moments you won’t be able to forget, but it needed another editing pass. In a world of alternate DVD versions, there’s still hope. However, the real problem is the many incomprehensible strands left waving in the wind.
An American remake starring Kristen Bell came out in 2006.