Overview
- A new RogerEbert.com review praises the film as possibly Miyake’s best to date following its Golden Leopard win at the 78th Locarno Film Festival.
- The feature adapts two Yoshiharu Tsuge manga and unfolds in two contrasted parts set by the sea and in a snowbound mountain inn.
- The story cross-cuts a Korean expatriate screenwriter named Li with the scenes she writes, a device the review says sharpens questions about who authors what we see on screen.
- Editor Keiko Okawa’s structure and Miyake’s shift to calm, static frames recall classical Japanese cinema, according to the review.
- Shim Eun-kyung’s performance as Li draws special notice for conveying doubt and resolve with small gestures, reinforcing the film’s focus on loneliness and longing.