On the surface, Gus Van Sant‘s upcoming, Cannes-contending "Sea Of Trees" might seem like a minimalist downer: a suicidal American (Matthew McConaughey) on his way to die befriends a Japanese man (Ken Watanabe) lost in the dense Aokigahara forest near Mt. Fuji, and the two search for a way out. But according to McConaughey, there’s positivity to be found.
“If you give somebody a one-liner pitch on this, and they go, ‘Oh, it’s the suicide movie.’ I say, no, it’s life affirming — and for me, it fit right into my own sort of personal philosophy of Just Keep Living," he says in the press notes for the film. " ‘The Sea Of Trees’ is a life-affirming story that should leave a lot of people questioning their own lives, in good ways. When they leave the theater, they will ponder: what have they taken care of since they’ve been here on this earth? What do they still need to take care of while they’re here? What do they need to make amends for?”
So, heavy stuff to be sure, but not without a bit of sunlight in the darkness. Check out the first clip below via Deadline. Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions have picked up the U.S. distribution for the film, but no release date has been set just yet.