(Eureka [de])
Japan 2000
d: Shinji Aoyama
Artificial Eye Film Company (Region 2 uk)
sc: Shinji Aoyama
c: Masaki Tamra (Sepiatone/Color, Panavision)
e: Shinji Aoyama
pd: Takeshi Shimizu
m: Shinji Aoyama, Albert Ayler, Jim O'Rourke, Isao Yamada
p: Takenori Sento (Dentsu / Imagica Corp. [jp] / J Works / Les Films de L'Observatoire / Suncent CinemaWorks / Tokyo Theaters Company)
w: Kôji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Masaru Miyazaki, Yoichiro Saito, Sayuri Kokusho, Ken Mitsuishi, Gô Rijû, Yutaka Matsushige, Sansei Shiomi, Kimie Shingyoji, Eihi Shiina, Machiko Ono
pr: 18 Mai 2000
aw: Camerimage 2000 Nominated Golden Frog • Cannes Film Festival 2000 FIPRESCI Prize Competition; Prize of the Ecumenical Jury; Nominated Golden Palm • Singapore International Film Festival 2001 Silver Screen Award Best Asian Feature Film
rt: 208:44 (+4%PAL= 217) min
dvd-rl: 22 Apr 2002
ar: 2.35:1 (16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen)
sd: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
st: English (fixed)
supp: • Production Notes
• Filmographies
A bus is hijacked; only the driver (Yakusho, from "The Eel" and "Shall We Dance?") and two school-age passengers survive the bloodbath. Two years later, the driver returns from his mysterious wanderings, finds life with his family awkward, and moves in with the brother and sister, by now utterly speechless and living alone (at least until their student cousin also comes to stay). Meanwhile, a number of local women are murdered. The slightly bogus serial killer subplot notwithstanding, Aoyama's lengthy, but never over-long study of psychological trauma and regeneration is beautifully shot (in monochrome 'Scope), acted, and directed; at least until the last two shots, an elegant understatement holds sway, even allowing for wry, gentle humour to be slowly but surely introduced into the otherwise serious proceedings. Like his superb lead actor, Aoyama achieves a lot with a little, proving that one needn't shout to be heard. Ozu, one feels, would have approved.
— GA, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
Shinji Aoyama's eighth feature film, Eureka so moved audiences and critics that it became one of the most surprising successes of 2000, earning the International Film Critics Award at Cannes. Its emotionally devastating examination of how people cope with the aftermath of tragedy revealed a grace and understanding that only the greatest works-whether cinema, art, or literature-can express. Eureka is a paean to survival, following the only three survivors of a deadly bus hijacking-the driver (Koji Yakusho: The Eel, Charisma) and two children-as they unite to drive across Japan, eventually to form a type of family. Aoyama called the film “a work of mourning,” its dramatic, overwhelming landscapes inspired by Ford's The Searchers, and its austere black-and-white tones by Godard's statement that such colors are, in film, the colors of working through grief. Even more relevant in today's world of unfathomable tragedy, Eureka approaches its truths steadily, allowing the viewer's own emotions time to linger, and to heal.
— Jason Sanders, PFA
