MovieChat Forums > Distance (2001) Discussion > My Take on Distance

My Take on Distance

posted 20 years ago by dropdeadfredd
4 replies | jump to latest

My comments will include spoilers.

This film is about four family members grieving over the deaths of perpetrators of a horrible crime. I found it an interesting exploration of both grief and loss conflicted with blame and guilt.

My interpretation of the ending was that florist (Atsushi) was not the brother of one of the perpetrators but the son of the cult leader. His last word at the end was "father." Earlier in the film he asks the surviving cult member (Sakata) about the cult leader and Sakata tells him that the cult leader felt like a father to him. Perhaps Atsushi craved that paternal bond that he could not have with his father. Possibly his father, like the other cult members, became estranged from his family. I think Atsushi assumed the role of a son to the old man in a coma because it was possibly his only opportunity to have a father figure, fictional as it was. And how appropriate that that three people who Atsushi met with every year to bond over the loss of their families had no idea about his true identity...as if they didn't really know eachother at all.

I can't say that I saw the twist coming although there was a nagging question in the back of my mind as I was watching the film: There were 6 cult memebers living in house. Yet the story consists of one cult surviver and 4 family members. Where was the fifth family member? The answer, as it turns out, was that one person actually knew two of the cult members. Atsushi somehow knew the woman he claimed to be his sister, perhaps through the cult, and was son to the cult leader.

I can't say the ending entirely worked for me and the pier burning at the end may have been a bit overdone. I think the death of the old man in the hospital might have been the death of his charade as well so he burned the pictures on the pier to say farewell.

It does call into question whether any of his flashbacks with his sister were actually true. And if he was lying, what of the others? How reliable are their recollections?

Would welcome a better explanation.

[–] davidals 19 years ago

Who do we harass, bombard with letters, etc... to get this released in the US?

http://us.imdb.com/ CommentsAuthor?ur206 6951

[–] avatarbilbo 19 years ago

wow, very nice interpretation...

I was so happy to see this movie - I've always loved Maborosi by Kore-eda, and luckily we have a great rental place in town that had this one. It also has "Nobody Knows" as well, which I'll watch next.

Anyway, I really like how each movie Kore-eda makes is quite different in style and feel, yet somehow can remain similar. I absolutely love these movies...

Well, I'm bad at reading into movies, so all I'll say is that the fire at the end was beautiful... absolutely beautiful... I wish they didn't cut to black so soon!!!

Dave

[–] fundaquayman 17 years ago

My interpretation of the ending was that florist (Atsushi) was not the brother of one of the perpetrators but the son of the cult leader. His last word at the end was "father."

Interesting interpretation from his actions in the movie (i.e. burning pictures, visiting the dying old man, and his flashbacks).

I saw his comment of "father" differently... to me, all the members of the cult probably saw the leader as a father figure. Atsushi seems to be someone who had no family to begin with, and went through most of his adult life attaching himself to others seeking for either kinship or a sense of family. With the flashback scene where he encourages the girl to look into the "family," as well as his connection to the young man who quit medical school to join the cult, it made me think that he was the main connection, if not the one person who was responsible for introducing most of the members [mentioned in the story] into the cult. IF that is the case, his character is responsible for bringing 2 of the deceased to which the mourning relatives have lost through the mass suicide... by showing him burning the pictures, and also his lighting the fire at the end, it makes me think that he could also be the one responsible for killing the same family members he had introduced into the cult... bringing to him the guilt he now has to live with, and tries to understand and relinquish everytime he meets with the surviving relatives.

This is a powerful film, albeit really slow in the 1st half of the film -- the lost in the woods sequence really tests the patience of the audience. In the end, however, it was well worth the wait for the final act to tie it all together... as murky as the ending leaves the audience, it also evokes a lot of emotions, and allows for lots of interpretations and questions about the value of family and the importance of one to feel they belong -- which to me is the premise of the film's story.

[–] film_ophile 13 years ago

it is 7 yrs since you posted this thread, but i thought you might find this interpretation of use:

http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/koreeda.html#distance

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