Description

Yoko hosts a popular global travel show, yet is cautious and insular like many young Japanese. But she has a bigger dream. On assignment in Uzbekistan, Yoko and her small TV crew attempt to catch a mythical fish but fail. They also film segments in Samarkand but feel they’re lacking. Indifferent to her job, Yoko prefers texting her firefighter boyfriend in Tokyo. One night, she comes across a tied up goat and suggests releasing it on camera. The plan goes awry and Yoko feels indignant and naive. The team moves to Tashkent where Yoko wanders into an opulent theatre, fantasizing she’s singing on stage. She confides her ambitions to her cameraman but admits her heart’s not ready. While filming, Yoko’s timid nature inadvertently gets her in trouble with the police. At the station, she hears of a disaster in Tokyo and realizes how important human communication truly is. Some of the team return to Japan but Yoko stays. As she ventures into the mountains, she sings from the heart and her spirit is freed…

Reviews

“An insightful and ambivalent interrogation of the strange and often compromised experience that is cultural tourism in the mass media age.”

—Jessica Kiang, Variety

“It really does feel like Maeda/Yoko is stumbling haphazardly from one real setting to another, in a film expertly cast down to the tiniest of roles!”

—Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter

“Kurosawa has delivered an incredible story of one woman’s transformation from loneliness to emotional freedom.”

—Kevin L. Lee, Film Inquiry

Festivals

Locarno Film Festival _ Closing night

Toronto International Film Festival _Maters

New York Film Festival _ Main Slate

Busan International Film Festival

Montreal IFF of New Cinema

Viennale

London East Asia Film Festival

Tokyo International Film Festival