Desert of Namibia

Yoko Yamanaka's 2024 Japanese film follows Kana, twenty-one, who works at a beauty salon in Tokyo. Her relationships with lovers, friends and family keep turning into conflict; she does not know why either and does not try to explain. The film makes no effort to make its character likeable. Kana lies, hurts people and does not take on the consequences of her choices; the narrative neither diagnoses nor excuses it. That stance separates the film from others on similar ground. Yuumi Kawai leads and is in nearly every scene. The camera uses long takes and the everyday surface of Tokyo is never prettified. The desert of the title enters the film as documentary footage and receives no explanation. Who it's for: those who like contemporary Japanese independent cinema and difficult characters. Who it's not for: viewers waiting for the character to develop; the film never promises it.