‘Between Us’ Director Matsumura Shingo on Finding Connection After Disaster and Making Films on Japanese Budgets
‘Between Us’, directed by Matsumura Shingo, follows childhood friends Makoto and Kasumi as they reconnect in their high school drama club after an incident drives them apart. The film explores how people can remain emotionally connected despite distance, and how unresolved personal and public trauma can persist after attention moves on.
Matsumura uses still, deliberate camerawork to capture the actors’ emotions and distinguish the film from fast-moving online video. He drew on reflections prompted by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the pandemic and wars, though these events do not feature directly in the story. In the drama club, the girls’ separate readings of a play bring them closer as they voice feelings they could not express in everyday life.
In short
- Two estranged friends reconnect through their school drama club.
- Matsumura uses still camerawork to convey emotion and distance.
- The film reflects on connection and trauma that remains unresolved.
Explained simply
Between Us follows two childhood friends, Makoto and Kasumi, who meet again in their high school drama club after an incident has separated them. As they read a play together, they find ways to express feelings they have struggled to put into ordinary conversation.
Director Matsumura Shingo has said the film grew from thinking about the lasting effects of events such as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the pandemic and wars. These events do not appear in the story; they inform its interest in how personal and shared pain can remain after public attention has shifted. The film’s measured camerawork gives space to the actors’ expressions and emotions.
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