Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000) (spoilers)
Together with "Gaichu", this film shows Aoi Miyazaki to be one of the finest child actresses of all time. (Having now achieved teen "idol" status in Japan, will she fritter away her talent?). Her character is virtually wordless in this over 3.5 hour long film, which makes her accomplishment even more impressive.
The film tells of a brother and sister, who along with a bus driver (played by Koji Yakusho, perhaps Japan's best actor today), are the sole survivors of a bus-jacking and mass killing. Not only the children are traumatized by the incident, but the notoriety and disruption leads to the collapse of the family. Left alone after the death of their father, the children withdraw from the world. Yakusho, whose own life has fallen apart as well, also flees -- to parts unknown -- for almost a year. He returns to find (not surprisingly), his wife has left the extended family home, to return to work in a big city. He and the children are drawn together by their mutual catastrophe -- and he (along with an older cousin of the kids) try to draw them out of their shell. Matters are complicated by a string of serial killings taking place in their area. Yakusho buys a beat-up bus -- and carries them out of the scene of their unhappy past, but it isn't so easy to escape the shadow the past cast over them.
The acting here is superb (and not just that of Aoi Miyaki and Koji Yakusho) -- and the monochromatic cinematography is equally wonderful. For me, the 3.5 hours passed quite swiftly.
Together with "Gaichu", this film shows Aoi Miyazaki to be one of the finest child actresses of all time. (Having now achieved teen "idol" status in Japan, will she fritter away her talent?). Her character is virtually wordless in this over 3.5 hour long film, which makes her accomplishment even more impressive.
The film tells of a brother and sister, who along with a bus driver (played by Koji Yakusho, perhaps Japan's best actor today), are the sole survivors of a bus-jacking and mass killing. Not only the children are traumatized by the incident, but the notoriety and disruption leads to the collapse of the family. Left alone after the death of their father, the children withdraw from the world. Yakusho, whose own life has fallen apart as well, also flees -- to parts unknown -- for almost a year. He returns to find (not surprisingly), his wife has left the extended family home, to return to work in a big city. He and the children are drawn together by their mutual catastrophe -- and he (along with an older cousin of the kids) try to draw them out of their shell. Matters are complicated by a string of serial killings taking place in their area. Yakusho buys a beat-up bus -- and carries them out of the scene of their unhappy past, but it isn't so easy to escape the shadow the past cast over them.
The acting here is superb (and not just that of Aoi Miyaki and Koji Yakusho) -- and the monochromatic cinematography is equally wonderful. For me, the 3.5 hours passed quite swiftly.