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Tabi no owari sekai no hajimari

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.

“Director Kurosawa is known for his more chilling, horror-themed films, and he uses some of those talents to highlight Yoko’s isolation and fear at being a woman alone in a foreign city. Atsuko Maeda is a former J-Pop star who wanted to become an actor, and she uses what was surely her upbeat pop persona to good affect here, while showing us a deeper, more multi-faceted character when the camera is turned off. Ironically, Yoko’s path is the opposite of Maeda’s, a TV personality who seeks to find her dream in on-stage musicals. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH is special film, with great direction, a strong screenplay, a delightful lead actor, and deft camera work. 4 1/2 cats
To the Ends of the Earth

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