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Desert of Namibia

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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. 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.
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Critics Reviews

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Nicolas Rapold New York Times What clinches the portrait is the sure-handed direction and Kana’s organic performance of a daunting character. May 15, 2025 Full Review William Repass Slant Magazine The film is so welded to its main character’s perspective that it, too, shies away from understanding, tragic and frustrating in equal measure. Rated: 2.5/4 May 11, 2025 Full Review Siddhant Adlakha Variety Holds and zooms for hilariously, sometimes painfully long. Your mileage may vary, as the film has a tendency to meander off course, but that is exactly its intention. Jun 1, 2024 Full Review Dustin Chang ScreenAnarchy The dissociation is a dominant feature in the film. With handheld camera work and long takes in tiny spaces, Yamanaka expertly captures the intimacy and suffocation that Kana feels. Mar 30, 2025 Full Review Paul Emmanuel Enicola The Movie Buff Whether she’s impulsively throwing herself into a new relationship or staring blankly at a world that no longer registers, Kawai ensures that even in Kana’s stillest moments, there’s something roiling underneath. Rated: C+ Mar 16, 2025 Full Review Pieter-Jan Van Haecke Psychocinematography Yamanaka, by expertly exploiting imagery and sound, does not only bring the spectator into contact with the void that ails the contemporary subject, but lets him fleetingly experience it or re-discover its presence within himself. Nov 16, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews
Desert of Namibia

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Cast & Crew

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Yoko Yamanaka

Director

Yumi Kawai

Kana

Keisuke Horibe

Koichiro

Daichi Kaneko

Hayashi

Kanichiro

Honda

Yuzumi Shintani

Ichika
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Desert of Namibia

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Movie Info

Synopsis 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. 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.
Director
Yoko Yamanaka
Producer
Keisuke Konishi, Shinji Ogawa, Masashi Yamada, Tokuji Suzuki
Screenwriter
Yoko Yamanaka
Distributor
Kani Releasing
Production Co
Bridgehead, Cogito Works
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
May 16, 2025, Limited
Runtime
2h 17m