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•• Foreign Film Edition ••
DISTANCE
[2001, JAPAN – Japanese]

With what you can gather from its title and posters for HIROKAZU KOREEDA'S DISTANCE, coupled with the dystopian sci-fi appeal in its opening, it may be rather difficult to make out the exact genre or what to expect of this 2001 film by the Japanese filmmaker who has carved his name in the international film festival circuit with his other films. His more recent films LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (2013) and OUR LITTLE SISTER (2015) were nominated for the Palme d’Or while his latest AFTER THE STORM (2016) debuted to critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festivals. All the three films centre around familial bonding and challenges, and once you join the journey with the main cast in DISTANCE towards an abandoned reservoir on the placid mountainside, you’d find that is at core a solemn drama about family’s loss and grief, soul-searching and healing.

Four unlikely acquaintances find themselves gathering at the remote reservoir to observe the anniversary of a bio-massacre involving the poisoning of Tokyo’s water system by a group of religious cult known as The Ark of Truth, which killed 128 lives. We get a glimpse of their average day-to-day lives before their assemble. Atsushi (Arata) works in a flower shop and regularly visits his ailing father in a nursing home. Masaru (Yusuke Iseya) is a swimming coach and spends his free time dawdling at arcades. School teacher Kiyoko (Yui Natsukawa) diligently goes to work every day and returns to a lonesome apartment and her drabby life. Kai (Susumu Terajima) who is an average income-earner, spends most of his time either at work or hanging out and boasting to his colleagues about his baby daughter. Regular souls going about with their mundane routines, until one fateful day at the reservoir where an unforeseen event forces them to spend the entire night together in the wooded area of the mountainside, as they find themselves stranded without means of communication and transport. Their last resort leaves them taking shelter at the Arch of Truth’s old, deserted cabin, and what follows is an entire night of strained journey down memory lane, uneasy conversations over their mourning, and even bordering on suspicion and betrayal.

Koreeda takes his time in revealing the story which can take quite an effort to fully grasp the underlying messages, motives and ultimately understanding what and why the mass killing took place. Plausible execution where its story would unfold in small doses, both present and flashbacks, with much work left to the audience to piece things together. However for the “distance” we are brought into the story when the final layers are unfold, the slightly over two hours film has been lamented as too lengthy and unengaging, resulting in a rather “distanced” film. And I tend to agree. There are moments stretched in the film that are rather drawn-out and hollow. Nevertheless with a collective performance by the cast that’s believable, their emotional journey in dealing with their losses is still worth the watch.

Rating: C+

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