'Cure' Still Haunts

EXTERIOR: a beach at midday, the surf shaded by passing clouds; the water reflects the sky so precisely that the shoreline could just as easily be the horizon. The shot, which holds for several beats, is empty of human forms, which is why it’s so unnerving when — after revealing we’re observing the location from the point of view of a young man seated in the sand — the camera suddenly cuts back to observe a trenchcoated figure standing dead center of the frame. How did he get there? The stranger looks upwards as if in a daze — maybe towards the spaceship that deposited him on the ground — before turning and walking slowly in our direction. Gradually, he gets close enough that we can register the expression on his face. It’s empty, unreadable. He keeps coming.