Shinji Aoyama might be described as a Japanese arthouse version of Quentin Tarantino: A smart, dedicated cinephile who works his influences into his films while experimenting with various genres, from the gangster film ("Chinpira," 1996) to mystery ("Lakeside Murder Case," 2004). But whereas Tarantino's films are cool in the ironic, in-your-face, extroverted American sense, much of Aoyama's work is cool in the distanced, oblique, introverted Japanese way.
The ultimate example is "Eureka," winner of the Cannes Jury Prize in 2000, whose drama about survivors of a bus hijack trying to heal their wounded spirits was filmed in gorgeous black and white with sparse dialog, long shots and austerely elegant compositions.
Now Aoyama is back after a four-year absence from the big screen with the mystery drama "Tokyo Koen" ("Tokyo Park"), and what seems to be a new outlook and approach: puckishly surreal, narratively diffuse and limpidly transcendent. It's somewhat as if Tarantino broke a long silence to make a homage to Terrence "The Tree of Life" Malick.