The Sea of Trees

At the foot of Mt. Fuji lies the so-called suicide forest, a notorious place where people wary of life can exhale their last gasp. The four different stories in Jyukai all focus on this truly existing forest in Japan, where amongst others a gentle yakuza and a retiring detective confront each other. The forest exhumes an atmosphere of dread and functions as connecting factor between the different tales.

A suicidal American befriends a Japanese man lost in a forest near Mt. Fuji and the two search for a way out.

At the foot of Mount Fuji lies the forest of Aokigahara, sadly famous for the hundreds of people who commit suicide here. The woods are full of legends and horror stories about ghosts who call the living to stay with them in the eternal gloom of "the sea of trees".

The BBC version of Life arrives with an at-times breathtaking, altogether stunning 1080p/VC-1 transfer; one that boasts gorgeous colors and remarkable detail, and puts most other nature documentary presentations to shame. Still, comparisons to the series' 1080i Discovery Channel release are the most inevitable and the most unavoidable. Simply put, the differences between the two aren't earth shattering – in some instances, our beloved little "p" may as well stand for "placebo" – but they are notable. There are plenty of scenes and shots in which the tiniest strands of animal hair are crisper, distant foliage is more refined, and the craggly crevices of rocky ravines are more revealing.