One rule of Scriptwriting 101 is that your protagonist must be likable or at least relatable to your audience, however odd their situation or outrageous their behavior may be.
In her second feature, the enigmatically titled “Desert of Namibia,” Yoko Yamanaka defiantly ditches that rule with a 21-year-old heroine, played by rising talent Yuumi Kawai, who is by turns cold, self-centered, unfaithful, disdainful and, when she doesn’t get her way, a drama queen par excellence.
Still, the over-padded film, which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival and came away with the FIPRESCI critics’ prize, is also true to the messy complexity of human beings and their relationships in its own quirky and sharply observant way. Scripted by Yamanaka, who at age 27 is not much older than Kawai’s character, Kana, the film also reflects its Generation Z zeitgeist with an insider’s acumen.
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