Direction: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Country: Uzbekistan / Japan / other
Written and directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure; Tokyo Sonata), To the Ends of The Earth follows Yoko (former J-pop idol Atsuko Maeda), the dissatisfied host of a Japanese travel TV show who dreams of being a singer. Arrived in Uzbekistan to shoot another installment of the series, Yoko only takes pleasure in exploring the capital, Tashkent, by herself. The small crew that flew with her from Japan is not particularly amusing, especially the inconsiderate director, Yoshioka (Shota Sometani); and only a hired local translator, Temur (Adiz Rajabov), sparks off some genuine empathy.
During her staying, Yoko gets involved in many episodes - she's blamed for the non-appearance of a mythical Uzbek fish, forced to eat uncooked rice in a local eatery and pretend it’s delicious, rides multiple times in a giddying pendulum ride, pities a goat in captivity and sets it free (an unconscious projection of her own situation), gets lost in the city at night, visits the beautiful Navoi Theater by chance, and ends up being chased by the police for a frivolous incident.
This culture-clash drama is rooted in a painful realism but occasionally slips into cloud-land through fabricated musical moments. Although it may get you hooked in its loose narrative sphere and gentle pace, some episodes are peripheral, with Kurosawa showing some indecision about if he wants to explore the austerely dramatic side of a phony travelogue or extract a breezy jocularity from certain situations.
Expect a strong central performance by Maeda, whose character completely transfigures while working in front of a camera, and an interesting shift into the minor key from Kurosawa, who typically embraces a tension-filled style.
