Life: Untitled

Adapting her own stage play, Kana Yamada’s incisive and comic directorial debut is a multifaceted portrayal of women’s lives intersecting with a Tokyo escort service. The dynamic group is anchored by Kano (a breakout role for Sairi Ito of The Naked Director), who works in the rundown office where the women all wait for calls and becomes a witness to others between their visits to local love hotels, including the veteran Shiho (Reiko Kataoka of Hush!). Portraying an industry frequently exploited in Japanese media for objectifying scenes of titillation or abjection, Yamada shows sex workers’ dignity and desires amidst the misogyny and violence pervading society, updating the humanistic impulses of Kenji Mizoguchi to address the contemporary alienation of labor with humor and drama.

Available streaming territory: U.S. only

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