Thoughts on To the Ends of the Earth

On Metrograph’s virtual cinema page, I really enjoyed watching the 2019 Japanese film To the Ends of the Earth, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata). It was a really engrossing comedy-drama in which J-pop star Atsuko Maeda plays the host of a travel reality show, shooting an episode in Uzbekistan with a small crew of all men. She has this bubbly personality when hosting, but off-camera, is a lot more withdrawn and introverted. She feels totally out of her element in the country, as well as dealing with everyday sexism from locals, like a fisherman who thinks her presence brings bad luck in catching fish, or an amusement park manager who thinks she’s a child when she goes on a ridiculous ride three times in a row for the show.

I really liked how the movie depicted scenes of her isolation and vulnerability with exploring alone in the country, like feeling nervous at night as a solo woman or racing out of a bazaar when being hassled by merchants, especially when she cannot speak the language and struggles to understand and communicate with locals. And when she would be shooting scenes for the show, one could feel her guilt whenever shoots were unsuccessful for reasons out of her control, but feeling some silent blame pointed her way by men.

I wasn’t as into her musical moments, when she bursts into singing an old Edith Piaf standard in a fantasy sequence, because it felt inserted in and obligatory because Maeda is a famous pop star, and the character truly wanted to be a singer as a hidden desire. It just didn’t really fit as much for me, as these moments were the rare times that she sang, and it felt totally out of left field if I didn’t already read in the plot summary that the actress is a known singer. I got that it was part of her journey of self-discovery, but it still felt a little sudden when it happened.

It was a really rich and interesting film to watch, and I’m happy I checked it out.