Eureka, 2000
Never before have I seen a movie with such an uncanny ability to make me feel like a part of it. It could seem contrived I guess, since I don't share the same death-adjacent trauma and loss that unites our four main characters, but a deep sense of connection still holds me, with shots and scenes that almost seem to mirror personal experiences of life on the road with my own family, and all in all it's just heavily real.
After a busjacking/murder leaves two children mute and traumatized and a driver restless and forever anxious, they continue with their lives as best as they can while further family deteriorates from them and eventually the trio come together to survive in their abandoned house that appears more like a squat at this point. A cousin comes to check on the children, unaware of the third tenant.
Tension builds in the film in such a subtle but substantial way, particularly in the children, who alternatively relax and dive further into their mental disturbance throughout the film. When our bus driver comes home one day with a new bus with plans to hit the road without any particular aim, the others seem apprehensive but ultimately embark on the soul mending journey. Though more murders take place, seemingly in the wake of the caravan, and tension increases yet, almost imperceptibly.
The whole movie is gorgeous and serene, shot in sepia for just about the whole duration (and never feeling gimmicky, it works amazingly imo), and this makes the final haunting full color shot all the more breathtaking. The bus passes through small rural Japanese towns that shed light on settings that seem somehow familiar, though somewhat a contrast to the bustling metropolis often explored in modern Japanese cinema. Instead, everything is humble and relatable, as if such a term could be applied to a place. It's vast and sparse at the same time, and the stops along the way kept me emotionally gripped in a deeply personal way.
As you may expect, the slight tension keeps at it as the movie progresses, and the smallest bits of heart rending catharsis come though with immense strength, being attached to it such as I was. and I was attached every second of the three and half hour run time. A heavy meditation on morality and coping with things, so genuine and yet so unreal. Absolutely sublime from start to finish.
It's clearly not the most action packed movie, in fact it's one of the slowest I've ever seen, but it's such a huge triumph of intimacy and emotion, I could remain entranced forever. All in all it plays out less like a film, but rather a screening of a faded dream, one from which you awake into an inexplicable feeling of rejuvenation coupled with a disparate sense of loss stemming from the fact that it might be forgotten for all time.
When we reach the theoretical zenith, the highest reaching point across the land, life would seem to begin anew.