Distance

This film explores the developing relationships between five individuals in their late twenties. The group is linked by being related to people who were part of a tragic suicide/terrorist cult in Japan.

I am a big fan of realism in cinema, and this one didn't disappoint. Most of the film is set deep in the forest. It follows the group as they pay their yearly respects to those lost in the suicide. After finding themselves stuck in the woods, they are forced to take refuge in a nearby hut which was previously inhabited by the cult members.

Much of the movie contains stunted and realistic dialog between the group, talking about the cult and touching on philosophy. Their is so much authenticity in the way they act that you feel as though you are part of the group, listening to the conversations.

There is some plot although I was a bit lost until I read other IMDb comments afterwards. I also felt it ran a bit long towards the end (around 150 minutes). But there are three elements in this film that made it enjoyable for me: it was focused on a small group of individuals, it was realistic, and it had great acting.

There's something special about humanist cinema, and without Hirokazu Koreeda it would be incomplete. Whether it be a dsyfunctional family (Shoplifters) or my personal favourite, choosing one special memory to have it replayed before your eyes (After Life), Koreeda taps into the soul of life.

Distance is no different. It is presented with lingering questions through the eyes of deceased cult member relatives - and like a jigsaw it trys to piece together the aftermath of the horrific tradegy. We get to know each different relationship that was affected by the cult; interesting as most stories focus more on the cult members and or cult leader themselves. In that regard it allows us to understand the cult structure more than simply seeing it as a brain washing machine.

With raw cinematography and the Koreeda special documentary style filmmaking, Distance shows us the truth that cult members saw, and the truth of their brothers, sisters, wifes and husbands. It is a film of contrast, but captures it perfectly.

Extremely shaky camera, hard to watch Excruciatingly slow. One sentence of dialogue every ten seconds.

After an hour I ended up switching to double playback speed and even then it felt slow so I bumped it up to 2.5 speed 20 minutes later. This movie was slow due to bad pacing as there was no atmosphere or visual storytelling to compliment it. And I say that as someone that watches a lot of slow paced atmospheric arthouse.

Production quality is that of a movie ten years prior. Wouldn't think this was made in the 21st century. Feels more like a student project.

It's also interesting to me that one of the lead actors in this is also from blind swordsman and, survive style 5+ and itchi the killer. All filmed in the same time period but leagues more interesting and higher quality.

Don't look here for answers to 9/11 or the Aum incident. Best tries for that would be read Haruki Murakami's "Underground" (Vintage International 2001) or see Shinji Aoyama's "Eureka." "Distance" has two significant sets. First is a dirt road through a skyless (camera doesn't look up) forest. A group connected in various ways with former Aum members, come to honor the tragedy but stranded by a car breakdown, take forever deciding whether to walk backward or forward. Suspense builds, a little like that around the host and guests unable to leave in Buñuel's "Exterminating Angel." The sole Aum vet among them (he got out before the serin) offers a third option, essentially go sideways (almost as if Buñuel's crowd had decided to walk out toward the camera or away from it through a wall), leading to the second significant set, a not quite barracks-like abandoned Aum building. Discussion there, centering on the building's dispersed inhabitants, reminds of the Aum member interviews in the second half of "Underground." The ending's ambiguous, so ambiguous that four months later, I can't remember it other than in images.

What I do recall is Director Kore-eda speaking after my screening. Though he'd been forthcoming throughout the rest of the Q and A, when two or three people challenged the ending he began excusing and apologizing, seeming to second-guess his edits. I'm not sure he should have apologized. Strictly in images, the film has a beginning, center, and end: the road in; the bright (even at night electrically and the bridge and lake that figure in one of the tales are more brightness) heart of darkness; the road out. Last thing I remember, though I'm not sure it was right at the end, is a bright, franchise-looking shop, one of the group running in to get something.

Forget Dogma 95. This is real fiction. A stunning picture about a group of people touched by a tragedy: The killings of the Supreme Truth sect and their subsequent collective suicide. Amazing cinematography, superb acting. A must see film.