“It approaches in silence, settles in with unhurried grace, and ultimately stirs the deepest chambers of the heart. A masterpiece from Aoyama Shinji, a farewell gift from one who has now left us.” — Director BONG Joon-ho

Eureka is the second installment in Aoyama Shinji’s ‘Kitakyushu Trilogy’ (which includes Helpless, Sad Vacation). It stands not only as his representative work but also as one of the essential films in any discussion of 21st-century cinema. Eureka reaches new lives, new landscapes and new cinema screens, traveling through the echoes of John Ford’s The Searchers (1956), Ozu Yasujiro, and Jean-Luc Godard. Shot in monotone with slow lateral tracking and music, the film records in detail their languid, ominous, bleak, and anxious days into its very form. Also it resonates with the landscape, sunlight, wind, footsteps, and gestures and creates a mood both tranquil and chilling. We come to realize his absence right after being moved by Aoyama Shinji′s heart that patiently waits for his characters to recover, slowly, from grief and loss. What will we witness in the final scene of Eureka after Shinji′s death? No - what is that we can no longer see in the final scene? (PARK Inho)