Desert of Namibia
Desert of Namibia is a 2024 psychological drama film directed and written by Yôko Yamanaka. It stars Yuumi Kawai, Daichi Kaneko, and Kanichiro. For her performance, Kawai won a Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actress and received nominations at the 17th [Asia Pacific Screen Awards] and 18th [Asian Film Awards].
The film had its world premiere at the 2024 [Cannes Film Festival] on 17 May 2024, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize – Parallel Sections.
Premise
A young directionless woman tries to find herself while working as a beautician and navigating a new relationship.Cast
- Yuumi Kawai as Kana
- Daichi Kaneko as Hayashi
- Kanichiro as Honda
- Yuzumi Shintani as Ichika
- Keisuke Horibe as Koichiro
- Makiko Watanabe as Mari
Release
Desert of Namibia had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2024 in the Directors' Fortnight section. It won the FIPRESCI Prize at the festival, and the director Yoko Yamanaka became the youngest woman to win the award.In November 2024, it was reported that Kani Releasing acquired the film's North American rights.
Reception
Siddhant Adlakha of Variety described the film as "an intentionally languid psychological portrait". William Repass of Slant Magazine gave the film two and a half stars out of four and praised Kawai's performance, describing it as "arresting". Mark Schilling of The Japan Times gave the film three out of five stars and described Kawai's performance as "masterful and multilayered".Writing for Screen International, Fionnuala Halligan gave the film a mixed review and criticized the vague reference to mental health issues.