ONLINE: To the Ends of the Earth

press release: To the Ends of the Earth (2019, Japan/Uzbekistan/Qatar, 120 min)

Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Cast: Atsuko Maeda, Shota Sometani, Adiz Radjabov

In Uzbekistan, the crew for a Japanese travel show is running out of ideas for material to shoot. The host, Yoko, does her best to maintain her peppy persona when the cameras are rolling, but is losing her direction behind the scenes. Clutching her map, Yoko wanders the streets, markets, and monuments of Samarkand and Tashkent, searching for meaning in an unfamiliar landscape. Best known for his atmospheric and prescient social horror films like Pulse and Cure, veteran director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s best and most fully-formed film in years finds absurdity, fear, and catharsis in a woman’s breakdown. In her fourth collaboration with the director, former J-pop superstar Atsuko Maeda excels as the moving center of the film, bringing us into Yoko’s internal journey from unmooring to transcendence. Hailed as “terrific… one of the most moving films Kurosawa has ever made” by the The AV Club, To the Ends of the Earth has appeared on Best-of-Year lists in that publication, as well as Artforum, The Film Stage, and Slant.

Register for access to view To the Ends of the Earth, available beginning at 7 pm on February 17, 2021. Spotlight Cinema screenings are free for MMoCA members. Non-members are encouraged to register through the Eventbrite link for each film at MMoCA's Spotlight Cinema page and (if applicable) will be prompted to pay directly through the distributor website. Become an MMoCA member today for free access to the entire Spotlight Cinema lineup, and enjoy many other great benefits throughout the year!

Films will be available starting at 7 pm the night of the screening and will be available to view for one week.

Spotlight Cinema is curated by Mike King, and is a program of MMoCA’s education department. Funding for the series has been provided by maiahaus, Venture Investors, LLC, and an anonymous donor.