Eureka

Toronto International Film Festival Program Guide
2000

Eureka
Shinji Aoyama
JAPAN, 2000
217 minutes Black and White/35mm
Production Company: Suncent Cinemaworks Inc.
Producer: Takenori Sento
Screenplay: Shinji Aoyama
Cinematographer: Masaki Tamra Editor: Shinji Aoyama fer
Production Designer: Takeshi Shimizu
Sound: Nobuyuki Kikuchi
Principal Cast: Koji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Masaru Miyazaki, Yohichiroh Saitoh, Sayuri Kokusho, Ken Mitsuishi Production: Suncent Cinemaworks Inc.

Violent crime intrudes on our lives every day—through television, newspapers and the unacknoweldged brutality of day-to-day urban existence. But some people are the victims of crimes so horrific that their lives are altered completely; their ability to function within society is utterly compromised and they can only find comfort in those who have suffered as they have. These people are the subject of Shinji Aoyama’s epic new filmm, Eureka.

In Kyushu, in southwest Japan, a crazed killer, seemingly without motive, hijacks a municipal bus. In the ensuing carnage only three people survive: the driver, a schoolgirl and her older brother. Suffering from trauma, the driver leaves his family to go travelling. After their mother leaves home to begin a new life elsewhere and their father dies in a car accident, the siblings withdraw further and further into silence. The driver eventually returns to town, awkwardly reacquainting himself with the orphaned kids. He moves into their house—filthy from neglect—and together with the orphans’ cousin, a college student on vacation and the kids’ only contact with the past, they begin a new life.

Police find the brutally murdered corpse of a woman and suspect the driver. Cleared of the crime, he buys an old bus, fits it with beds and invites the young people to travel with him. But the killing seems to follow them until each finds some way to come to terms with the horror they shared.

Eureka is long—almost four hours—but there are no wasted moments. Aoyama patiently and confidently teases out the psychological devastation and gradual inner reconciliation confronting these characters, utilizing stunning black and white Scope cinematography as a counterpoint. The performances, led by the great Koji Yakusho (Cure, Charisma, Shall We Dance?) are exceptional; the overall experience is unforgettable.
—Noah Cowan