(Yôko Yamanaka, 2024, Japan, 138 minutes)

Director Yôko Yamanaka and star Yuumi Kawai are among the most exciting rising talents in Japan right now—Yamanaka became the youngest director to ever have a feature film shown at Berlinale (her 2017 debut Amiko, directed when she was 19) and Kawai is a star of no fewer than three films showing at Japan Society’s prestigious Japan Cuts film festival in Manhattan this month. Bringing them together is Desert of Namibia, which premiered in the Director’s Fortnight sidebar at Cannes last year. Desert of Namibia follows 21-year-old Kana (Kawai), a disengaged beautician working in a laser hair removal shop, as she caustically drifts from boyfriend to boyfriend. Reading like a younger and somewhat more pessimistic take on The Worst Person in the World, Desert of Namibia is cause for excitement about Gen Z filmmakers in Japan.

In Japanese with English subtitles.