‘Between Us’ Review: Estranged Teenagers Process Past Tragedy Through High School Theater in Fitfully Ambitious Japanese Drama

Two teenagers from formerly close families reconnect through their school’s struggling drama club, six years after a camping trip left one family’s young son missing and both households traumatised. Shingo Matsumura’s Japanese drama uses their attempt to stage a play about the tragedy to explore grief, family estrangement and the possibility of reconciliation.

Ririka Kawashima plays Makoto, whose mother is emotionally devastated and whose father has left the family home; her childhood friend Kasumi’s family appears more settled, though it also carries lasting strain. The film focuses on the girls and their mothers as they confront the loss, while the review praises the performances and ambition but says the execution is uneven. It premiered in the Tokyo Film Festival’s Nippon Cinema Now section.