Diane Carson KDHX (St. Louis) Dec 30, 2020

[Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa] embeds astute social commentary in narrative details, as he does exceptionally well in "Bright Future".

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Richard Porton Chicago Reader Sep 29, 2017

Alienated youth is one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's favorite themes. Bright Future is an alternately comic and macabre portrait of a deranged friendship.

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Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Sep 17, 2009 B

Kurosawa's weird look at the empty lives of modern youth is mysteriously eye-catching but nothing deeper.

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Christopher Null Filmcritic.com Mar 8, 2005 3/5

a genre that's starting to get overplayed

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John Hartl Seattle Times Jan 28, 2005 3/4

Gradually establishes a sense of foreboding that is hard to shake, though it's not without its darkly humorous moments.

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Bill White Seattle Post-Intelligencer Jan 27, 2005 B-

Kurosawa's mysterious film about Japan's disaffected and alienated youth.

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Andrew Wright The Stranger (Seattle, WA) Jan 27, 2005

No stranger to the bizarro social metaphor, [Kurosawa] somehow paints the film's title as honestly optimistic, winkingly ironic, and completely doom-laden at the same time.

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Ty Burr Boston Globe Jan 14, 2005 3/4

The movie has a curious and cumulative power.

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly Nov 17, 2004 B+

The most spellbinding aspect of Bright Future is that the surrealism sustains its own squiddish logic, concluding with one of the most breathtaking film finales of the year.

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Ken Fox TV Guide Nov 12, 2004 3.5/5

More high -- but strangely touching -- weirdness from acclaimed Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

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Robert Dominguez New York Daily News Nov 12, 2004 2.5/4

Pretty to look at, but it's a slow-moving, meandering work that isn't as complex or mysterious as it appears.

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Aaron Hillis Premiere Magazine Nov 12, 2004 3.5/4

...an enchantingly cryptic, ethereally photographed slice of somber surrealism that should definitely appeal to fans of David Lynch and Luis Buuel.

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Manohla Dargis New York Times Nov 11, 2004 4/5

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a prolific and sui generis talent from Japan, this quietly creepy film contains a hint of politics and a wealth of shivers.

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David Rooney Variety Nov 11, 2004

The writer-director's story sense is far too distracted, clouding the film's themes and even its basic plotline and allowing only the most glancing insights into its characters.

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Michael Atkinson Village Voice Nov 9, 2004

Bright Future can be off-putting -- neither of the two protagonists attempt to engage the camera, and more woe is expended on mourning Mamoru than considering his victims.

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Matt Bailey Not Coming to a Theater Near You Oct 27, 2004

That the film succeeds on the level of a thriller as well as of a philosophical reflection is a proof of Kurosawa as perhaps the best Japanese filmmaker of his generation.

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Jason Anderson eye WEEKLY Jan 31, 2004 3/5

Though admirers of the director's eerie, elegant horror tales Pulse and Cure will find Bright Future rather more lugubrious, Kurosawa's latest turns out to have a surprising emotional pull and a truly transcendent final shot.

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Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine Jan 30, 2004 2.5/4

Kurosawa strains to find a parallel between jellyfish and his characters' disaffections.

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Walter Chaw Film Freak Central Oct 20, 2003 3.5/4

A remarkable companion piece to Gus Van Sant's similarly haunted, lyrical, allegorical Elephant.

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Michael Rechtshaffen The Hollywood Reporter May 21, 2003

Yet another film about disaffected, aimless Asian youth.

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