(Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2018, Japan, 119 min.)

For lovebirds Asako and Baku, motorcycle accidents lead to heavy necking. When you’re young and in love anything goes—except for jilting the other person. And when Baku does just that, a lovesick Asako spends the next two years in Toyko. Enter Ryohei, Baku’s straight-laced doppelgänger, who has a salary job but no motorcycle. What’s a girl to do? Don’t be fooled by the shojo-sounding premise. Cannes competition entry Asako I & II proves Hamaguchi to be a sensitive portraitist with the most unorthodox sensibilities. If you like your romances with sharp edges, this one’s for you. A ghost story with Hawksian flair, Asako I & II is one of the year’s best, most audacious works.

In Japanese with English subtitles.