Lead actor in Distance keeps movie going

FOR his latest film, Distance, it looks like Anthony Chen couldn't quite keep his, uh, distance.

As executive producer, he has taken a back seat from the director's chair; handing duties over to three promising Asian filmmakers - China's Xin Yukun, Singapore's Tan Shijie and Thailand's Sivaroj Kongsakul - whose works he admires.

But his influence is clearly felt throughout, with the dramatic restraint he perfected in his own award-winning debut Ilo Ilo (2013) also running through the individual segments. It's what gives the anthology its grounding, even though the separate stories about emotional and physical distance and the directors' story-telling styles are distinctly different.