“Between Us” Review – A High‑School Drama Tackles Unspoken Grief in Japan
Shingo Matsumura’s fourth feature uses a school play to force estranged families to confront a tragic camping accident.
Premise and Setting
“Between Us” opens with a brief prologue: ten‑year‑old Kasumi, her parents, and a sick‑but‑still‑present Makoto set out for a countryside camping trip. Makoto’s brother Kenji, only eight, joins the group alone, chasing butterflies while being warned not to wander.
Six years later the two families have diverged dramatically. High‑schooler Makoto (Ririka Kawashima) lives with her mother Emi (Akiko Kikuchi), now emotionally shattered, while her father (Yoichiro Saito) has left home, lost his office job, and works as a delivery driver. Makoto snaps when an elderly neighbor mentions her brother, and Emi freezes when a library coworker asks about her “little one.”
Kasumi (Anna Kurasawa) and her family appear more stable. They have added a five‑year‑old daughter, Chika. Yet when mother Fumiko (Asami Usuda) notes that Chika complains about never seeing her father (Takahiro Miura) smile, cracks in their domestic calm surface.
Grief Without Explanation
Matsumura paints a lingering, malignant grief that has festered since the camping tragedy, relying on visual storytelling rather than exposition. However, a jarring news report on a car radio declares that Kenji disappeared on the trip and that police have not ruled out foul play. This overt clarification, unheard by any character, removes mystery and hints at a procedural angle that never develops.
The Drama Club as a Healing Space
Both Makoto and Kasumi attend the same high school and become the sole members of its struggling drama club. Simultaneously, Emi and Fumiko cross paths at the library, where the revelation that the family once linked to Kenji’s death now has a “little sprog” threatens to destabilize Emi further.
The film positions the teenage protagonists as the ones willing to confront the suffocating loss that has crippled both households. They decide to stage a play that mirrors their own need for reconciliation, leaning on lingering affection and a desire to process the hostility that has built up.
Performance Highlights
Ririka Kawashima shines as Makoto, conveying a shell‑shocked teenager with a blend of anger and vulnerability. The supporting female leads—Akiko Kikuchi, Asami Usuda, Anna Kurasawa, and others—provide assured performances that anchor the emotional core of the story.
Ambition Meets Execution
As the narrative crawls toward its climactic performance, the film oscillates between moments of genuine insight and frustrating missed opportunities. Promises of meta‑textual experimentation and cathartic revelations appear, yet few fully materialize.
The director’s choice to leave crucial questions unanswered is bold, echoing Lee Jong‑un’s 2019 Korean drama “Birthday,” which examined the impact of a national tragedy without reenacting it. Yet Matsumura could have pushed further, perhaps by giving the older generation more conflict or pushback.
Overall Assessment
“Between Us” is a tidy, modestly ambitious package that offers a welcome glimpse of emerging talent. While its commercial prospects may be limited to specialist showcases focused on nurturing new voices, the film nonetheless provides a valuable platform for its female cast to shine.
In the end, the movie delivers both frustration and impression, leaving viewers with a lingering sense of what might have been achieved with a tighter script and less heavy‑handed exposition.
