Eureka (Yûreka) poster & wallpaper
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Koji Yakusho, Ken Mitsuishi, Gô Rijû, Yutaka Matsushige, Sansei Shiomi ... see more see more... , Kimie Shingyoji , Aoi Miyazaki , Marcel Faber , Karen Shenaz David , Sattoh Yohichiroh , Tim Teunissen , Masaru Miyazaki , Yohichiroh Saitoh , Kokusho Sayuri , Yoichiro Saito

One of the leading voices in the new Japanese cinema, Shinji Aoyama directs this saga about memory, grief, and redemption. Shot in stark black and white, the film opens with the sudden and inexplicabl... read more read more...y bloody hijacking of a bus in rural Kyushu. The crazed gunman (Riju Go) shoots two passengers in the back as they try to flee. Stepping out of the bus for some fresh air, the hijacker drags bus driver Makoto (played by the ubiquitous Koji Yakusho) along for cover. When the driver faints and falls to the ground, police snipers shoot the terrorist. In his last dying effort, the hijacker stumbles back on board the bus, where he murders an old lady and tries to kill a pair of shocked schoolchildren, Naoki (Masaru Miyazaki) and Kozue (Aoi Miyazaki). Two years later, the experience has wreaked havoc on the lives of the three sole survivors. Distanced and easily distracted, Makoto's weird behavior -- particularly his habit of wandering off unannounced for days at a time -- finally takes its toll on his marriage. Meanwhile, Naoki and Kozue are left mute from the event, though they can communicate. The silent siblings' mother soon walks out of her marriage, and their father kills himself in a car wreck, leaving them alone in a large house with a substantial insurance check. Having found work at a construction company, Makoto's strange behavior starts to raise a few eyebrows, especially when he utterly ignores the advances of a comely office worker. Soon the village is rocked by news of murdered women washing up on a nearby river bank; Makoto's brother suspects him and asks him to leave their family house. He shows up on the doorstep of Naoki and Kozue's house, which has devolved into utter disrepair, and the trio forms a family of sorts. Their relative peace and order is upset by Akihiko (Yohichiroh Saitoh), the bumptious cousin from Tokyo on vacation from college who is insensitive to the trauma that the trio has endured and increasingly suspicious of the kids' ersatz guardian. His disapproval of Makoto grows when that same comely office work turns up dead, and Makoto is the prime suspect. Looking to break out of their routine, and cleared of murder charges, Makoto purchases an old bus and converts it into a camper. Taking his three housemates on an odyssey that begins at the site of the hijacking, they slowly start to reconcile the grief and pain that so destroyed their lives. Unfortunately, the killing seems to follow them along their way. A poignant, emotional journey clocking in at just under four hours, Eureka won the prestigious FIPRESCI Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival and was screened at the 2000 Toronto and New York Film Festivals. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Flixster Users

87% liked it

1,788 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

42 critics

Unrated, 3 hr. 38 min.

Directed by: Aoyama Shinji, Shinji Aoyama

Release Date: May 4, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (90)

  • sitenoise
    August 23, 2009
    sitenoise
    After three and a half slow paced, sepia toned hours experiencing pain and anguish I still watched the credits roll. The film starts off with a guy hijacking a bus and killing most everyone on it. The driver and two middle school kids survive and we spend the rest of the film wat... read moreching them live with it. We watch them fall asleep watching television and other mundane maneuvers but there is not a wasted frame in this movie. There are a remarkable number of plot points that keep the film moving forward but it still feels like suspended animation. Koji Yakusho is sublime and Aoi Miyazaki, at like twelve years old--and without saying a word the whole film--is mesmerizing. This film is a masterpiece.
  • columbiatch
    December 21, 2007
    columbiatch
    arrgghhh, such a fucking indulgent and boring film. This felt like every minute of its 220 minute length. The whole serial killer subplot is stupid and totally unbelievable. The impressive sepia toned cinematography cannot save this pretentious mess.

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Critic Reviews

Kirk Honeycutt
May 11, 2001
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

Aoyama needs to put the editing into other hands.

Nicole Arthur
May 4, 2001
Nicole Arthur, Washington Post

This is a film to visually savor. Full Review

Wesley Morris
May 4, 2001
Wesley Morris, San Francisco Chronicle

You feel time slipping through your fingers, but, gorgeous and studied to a fault, the film doesn't give you time to look down at your hands. Full Review

Gene Seymour
May 4, 2001
Gene Seymour, Newsday

Its rewards are greater than any bright-and-tight Hollywood movie you've seen so far this year. Full Review

V.A. Musetto
May 4, 2001
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

Don't let the running time scare you away from the exceptional bit of filmmaking.

Kevin Thomas
May 4, 2001
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

To watch this film, in short, can be a transforming experience. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
May 4, 2001
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

The very un-Western style middle- and long-shot camera perspectives favored by Aoyama are quietly apt. Full Review

John Monaghan
May 4, 2001
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press

Might have made a good two-hour movie, but nearly every shot is twice as long as needed.

Steven Rosen
May 4, 2001
Steven Rosen, Denver Post

Frequently extraordinarily moving. Full Review

Jay Carr
May 4, 2001
Jay Carr, Boston Globe

The first film this year in which there is obvious greatness.

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