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William Friedkin's 1971 "The French Connection" came to mind watching this. The grittiness of New York City vs. the romanticism of Los Angeles. Whereas French Connection was grounded in a realistic cop setting, To Live and Die in L.A. took a more different approach, akin to that of Dirty Harry. And it sure paid off.

Both movies dealt with familiar themes but I feel Friedkin made something really memorable when it came to "To Live and Die in L.A.". The colours, atmosphere, music and above all the acting encapsulated what a cop movie could be. Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, William Petersen did a great job in realising their characters; while Wang Chung's music plastered throughout is a top soundtrack.

It is this reason you should watch it, and not miss the counterfeit world of L.A. - money, relationships and the city.

Having only watched Dario Argento's Suspiria, I was happy to see Goblin's unique music in his earlier work, Deep Red. The music is mesmerising, not surprising coming from Goblin; while the impressive camera-work accompanied it like a pianist and violinist.

The plot tends to lull at times but is carried by the curiousity of who the killer is and philosophical/social commentary by the main characters; It does escalate towards the end, trying to wrap up the "motive" of the murderer in a heartbeat, which I find a bit unfitting. However the murders are memorable where one seems to me to have inspired Halloween 2 from 1981, 6 years later.

An interesting thriller sprinkled with Argento where the soundtrack and camera do the majority of the heavy lifting.

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.