Distance (2001) 

Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda

Starring Tadanobu Asano, Kenichi Endo, Arata

A drama set three years after a fictional cult group contaminated Tokyo's water supply, this film like Eureka is about the pain, guilt and incomprehension following traumatic loss and/or bereavement.

Four relatives of the cult members meet up at the lake where their ashes were spread following their suicide. While at the lake their car is stolen, they eventually decide after meeting one of the surviving cult members, to spend the night in the cult's old headquarters.

As they finally relax, their thoughts turn to those they lost, flashbacks show important moments when who knows? If they had handled things in a different way, maybe they would have turned out differently. We also see further flashbacks of the police interviews with the surviving member and with the relatives where for some of them, even further disturbing information is revealed.

The film makes great use of handheld cameras and natural lighting, all of which help to make you feel as though you are part of or eavesdropping on the group. There are no long deep conversations; instead they are natural and stilted, each person trying in their own way to comprehend the reasoning behind the actions of the past. These people are only together because each has lost someone close to them, otherwise they are almost strangers.

There is a little mystery, one of the relatives isnt who he says he is and unless I missed it, there is no real understanding of where he fits in although he definitely had some sort of association with at least one of the cult members. 

The acting is spot on, and although it didnt grab my attention in the same way that Eureka did, it is well paced and constructed with an ending open to interpretation. 

Recommended viewing and one that I think, like After life and Maborosi, will impress me even more on future screenings.

Cheers Trev. 

No BBFC rating but probably 15.