Desert of Namibia

DESERT OF NAMIBIA follows mercurial 21-year-old Kana (Yuumi Kawai), a hair-removal technician at a salon in Tokyo, who bristles against the beauty expectations placed on women her age. Her erratic mood and default to self-destruct impacts all of her relationships, as moments of levity erupt into violence and optimism simmers to despair. The award-winning Kawai embodies Kana with an emotional intensity and clear-eyed precision that evokes Gena Rowlands in Cassavettes’ A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, while Yamanaka’s sophomore work sculpts a subtle intimacy reminiscent of Pialat’s À NOS AMOURS and masterfully conveys the chaos and disarray of a young woman at odds with the world as much as with herself.

*Directors’ Fortnight – Cannes Film Festival 2024