"The third feature of the skilled, astute director Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Cannes competition work "Distance" negotiates the nearly identical terrain of memory, regret and recovery that shaped Shinji Aoyama's moving and deeply impressive at last year's festival "Eureka." In summoning up a work  it cannot possibly equal, the new movie suffers under the deep strain of expectations caused by the seriousness of the subject matter and the past performance of Kore-eda with his previous features "Maborosi" and "After Life." Formally, "Distance" is certainly accomplished, though it lacks the concentration and unity of the Aoyama film.  There are a succession of physically arresting images, though the movie is frustratingly opaque, too emotionally diffuse to capture a necessary nuance and depth of expression.  In never quite finding a vital rhythm or shape, "Distance" is a work more easily admired than genuinely appreciated."

Excerpt from Patrick Z. McGavin's review found on IndieWire HERE