“A year of life lost.” “More connected, yet more separated than ever.” Over the last year, phrases like these have become as cliched and well-worn as the pair of sweatpants you adopted as your daily attire. However, sentiments like these become cliched because they contain fundamental truths. And, for those of us who already suffered from mental health issues and sparse social circles, the past year of necessary isolation and quarantine exacerbated a problem of alienation into a full-blown viral outbreak in its own right. That being the case, 2001’sPulseis all the more hauntingly relatable.
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Pulseis written and directed byKiyoshi Kurosawa(no relation to directorAkira Kurosawa), who, through films likePulseand 1997’sCure, has garnered critical praise as one of Japan’s masters of “J-horror” filmmaking. Kurosawa, eschewing shallow and exploitative cheap thrills, embraces the psychological and philosophical, using impactful motifs such as existentialism to drive the fear and horror of his films.Pulseis no different, taking a novel, early 2000s horror concept “ghosts invading the world of the living through the internet” and using it to investigate how the modern world has alienated people from one another, and the psychological and societal consequences of such.
Kurosawa shows how two central groups of characters inPulse, three young co-workers and two university students, have their lives invaded by ghosts. Things get worse when it is revealed there is no more room in heaven and ghosts seek the human world as their home (a possible nod to the famous “when there is no more room in hell” quote fromDawn of the Dead). However, the ghosts do not simply want to hurt or kill humans, but rather suspend them in a purgatory-like state of existence. Much like the living, the dead seek a reprieve from the trap of solitude. The movie takes a turn towards the apocalyptic, as the isolation of society turns from an internal problem to a literal lack of survivors.
In makingPulse, Kurosawa examines the slow decay and degradation of the mind and self that come with isolation, and to a greater extent, death. Speaking toReverse Shotmagazine in 2005 on the distinct difference in how ghosts are depicted in Japan, he said “They are not violent ghosts—the ghosts just show up and sit in the corner of the room to tell you how vengeful they feel…if they don’t attack you then the best you can do is figure out a way to co-exist with them. I find the idea that one just has to live with this thing much more terrifying. You have no chances of running away or fighting it; you’re stuck with it forever.”
This description seems strikingly similar to how one must learn to live and coexist with issues like depression, which often lead to loneliness. One has no choice but to coexist with an uncontrollable force that won’t give up.
Kurosawa, in a 2014 interview with theEntrevues Belfort Film Festivalalso spoke on how death itself is an agonizing process, explaining “In film, death is often confined to a few seconds, whereas inPulse(Kairo) I tried to make it last, to turn death into a state. I tried to represent this passage from life to death in an enduring way.” This further emphasizes the theme of isolation being a form of “walking death.” EvenPulse’s camera work embodies isolation, with Kurosawa employing distant, near voyeuristic photography, choosing to film most scenes and characters in wide and medium shots through windows from outside, across streets, and on the opposite sides of rooms.
But don’t let the film’s thematic accomplishments make you think it’s purely cerebral, as it’s also plenty unnerving and scary. The first half of this film is drenched in discomfort and unease, as you watch for ominous shadows in the background, see eerie live-streams on desktop monitors, and have ghosts glide and jerk their way toward terrified victims. It has perfectly executed scares, building the tension through long takes and reserved quiet moments of menacing expectation and intrigue. The latter half of the movie moves from the terror of haunting specters to the ethereal and existential terror of a collapsing world. Your loved ones are gone, and you’re left with little hope to continue on or fight for your own survival. The depression sinks in as everything turns to dust (both literally and metaphorically in this film).
The fact that technology, specifically the internet, is the portal through which ghosts enter and infect the living world is certainly not insignificant. With the internet being relatively new when he made the film, Kurosawa explains his choice to use it, in the sameReverse Shotinterview describing the internet as “This unknown force that was spreading like a virus throughout the country and had that kind of ominous and menacing feel to it.” And, though he couldn’t have known at the time, it’s amazing how the internet is a tool, or in some cases a vice, that directly correlates in our modern world with alienation from one another, despite connecting us all. Rather than a portal for ghosts, the internet often acts as an instigator of low self-esteem, obsession, misinformation, and polarization, all traits which can lead to loneliness, be it self-inflicted or otherwise.
All of these elements makePulsestrikingly relevant coming out of 2020 - the year of COVID necessitated isolation. We’ve all been cooped up in our homes, alienated from the outside world, our screens exacerbating the loneliness by invading, not with ghosts, but pale and sterile imitations of true socialization. Up until only a few months ago, there was no cure, just like the ghosts inPulse, only waiting and coexisting with the isolation. Just as the spirits inPulsestarted with one computer and escalated from there, all the way to societal collapse, COVID-19 went from a waived-off threat in February to a full-scale pandemic just a few weeks later.Pulseisn’t just about ghosts, and COVID-19 hasn’t only been about a virus - they’ve both been about how we, as humans and a collective, deal with separation and alienation from one another, and how we learn to live and survive despite it all. Though the internet is no longer the mysterious unknown, rife with the potential to house the dead,Pulseremains pertinent and compelling, as loneliness is something we can never escape, no matter how connected we get.
