By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Adiz Rajabov | Atsuko Maeda | Ryo Kase | Shôta Sometani | Tokio Emoto
Original language title: Tabi no owari sekai no hajimari
Country: japan, qatar, uzbekistan
Year: 2020
Running time: 120
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8681422/reference
Michael says: “Yoko is the host of a popular travel show produced in Japan. While filming at various cultural landmarks in Uzbekistan, we see Yoko shooting hip deep in a lake supposedly filled with large, mysterious fish, repeatedly riding a nausea-inducing, carnival ride, and eating not quite cooked food at a local eatery. On camera, she does this all with a smile and a perky, upbeat demeanor, but off-camera, Yoko is brooding, missing her boyfriend, a firefighter, in Japan, and putting up with her dismissive, male director and cameramen. Her reporting job pays the bills, and has given her a certain amount of celebrity, but Yoko has a grander dream, one that magically manifests itself about halfway through the film, and again at the conclusion. Yoko gradually learns that self-isolation can be dangerous, and everyone needs human connection, even, or especially, when they are far from home and separated from what is normal.