To the Ends of the Earth

In this international co-production by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata), a young television host named Yoko (former AKB48 idol Atsuko Maeda) is sent to Uzbekistan with a small crew to shoot an episode for a travel show. Despite her smiling on-camera persona, Yoko struggles to overcome her feelings of displacement and insecurity as the problem-laden shoot becomes increasingly difficult. A wonderfully unconventional, reflexive, and quietly humorous travelogue drama that takes unexpected detours from scene to scene, To the Ends of the Earth finds Kurosawa exploring exciting new directions while maintaining his masterful formal style and idiosyncratic point of view.

Streaming in the U.S. through May 31