By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.4
Director: Shinji Aoyama
Starring: Aoi Miyazaki | Koji Yakusho | Mazaru Miyazaki
Original language title: Yurîka
Country: japan
Year: 2001
Running time: 217
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0243889
Diane says: “I saw Shinji Aoyama’s 3-3/4 hour EUREKA last night, and recommend it. A study of three people set adrift by a horrible act of violence, the film certainly lets you get to know its characters in a leisurely way. The fabulous Koji Yakusho of SHALL WE DANCE? gives another great perf here as the bus driver who sets up house with the other two survivors, orphaned siblings. A loudmouth college student joins them, adding some vivacity and humor. The look of the film is achieved with desaturated color film–it’s not black and white, it’s not exactly sepia….It’s the color of grief and depression.
“I found this film pleasurable and absorbing. Perhaps comparable to GEORGE WASHINGTON in its slow understated pace and story? See it some time you’re in a meditative mood.” 3 1/2 cats
Laura says: “EUREKA demands that the viewer accompany its characters on a long, sometimes arduous journey. While one of its major roads leads to an unsatisfying destination, the trip on the whole is one worth taking.” 3 cats
For Laura’s complete review: “http://www.reelingreviews.com/eureka.htm”
Stephen says: “Whenever I see a film over 2 hours long, my first question is – did it earn its length. EUREKA earned at least 3.25 hours because of the unpushy way it showed all the little details of the post-trauma existence of its 3 main characters. At first, before the adult bus driver came back into the lives of the two child survivors of the senseless assault on their bus that left all their fellow passengers dead, the scenes of all three lives showed how static they had become, and were kind of hard to take. This was about the first half hour or so, but it was necessary. After that the healing process began to get underway, very slowly as it would be, and the film became much more absorbing. There were a few too many long rambling shots of what they saw out the windows as they went on a little trip to break away from the paralysis of their life at home, but mostly it didn’t make me feel like I was wasting my time. And it felt far shorter than many 90 minute movies I’ve seen in the past few months.” 3.75 cats