2020 / 89m - Japan
Drama, Romance
3.5*/5.0*
Woman of the Photographs poster

Watches

September 29, 2020

3.5*/5.0*

Quirky and intriguing drama. The film is part (dark) romance, part reflection on the impact of modern photography on people's lives. I say modern photography, as nowadays taking a picture is probably the easiest part of the process, most of the effort goes to touching up pics in various apps.

If that sounds like some quick/cheap critique on the Instagram generation, rest assured that director Kushida's approach is way more nuanced than that. There are roughly four stories here, each of them showing the power and possibilities of modern photography, but also the pitfalls of losing yourself in your own enhanced reality.

Performances are great, with Otaki and Nagai in stand-out roles. The styling is interesting too, but a little inconsistent. Kushida makes a real effort to spruce up the audiovisual experience, it's just a little too confined to individual scenes. Still, a very promising first feature, I'm pretty confident Kushida is bound to direct a masterpiece if he perseveres.