To the Ends of the Earth

Name: To the Ends of the Earth
Genre: Drama
Released: December 11, 2020
Duration: 120 min
Rating: 85
Cast: Adiz Rajabov, Atsuko Maeda, Maruf Otajonov, Muyassar Berdiqulova, Ryo Kase

2020

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Universal acclaim based on 10 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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7.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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To The Ends Of The Earth

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Movie Details & Credits

Kimstim Films | Release Date: December 11, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Adiz Rajabov, Atsuko Maeda, Maruf Otajonov, Muyassar Berdiqulova, Ryo Kase, Shôta Sometani, Tokio Emoto

Summary: Yoko (Atsuko Maeda) travels with a small crew to Uzbekistan to shoot an episode of her travel reality show. In front of the camera, her persona is carefree and happy-go-lucky, but behind the scenes she is cautious and introverted. Despite her best efforts, the filming of the television series ends unsuccessfully, and frustrated by theYoko (Atsuko Maeda) travels with a small crew to Uzbekistan to shoot an episode of her travel reality show. In front of the camera, her persona is carefree and happy-go-lucky, but behind the scenes she is cautious and introverted. Despite her best efforts, the filming of the television series ends unsuccessfully, and frustrated by the failure, she sets off into the mysterious country. Lost in the streets of Tashkent, she finds herself adrift and alone, confronting her deepest fears and hidden aspirations. [KimStim]… Expand

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 120 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Sam C. Mac

Jan 24, 2020

If Kurosawa is less interested in narrative dynamics, it’s because he’s focused on an acute understanding of societally and sociologically conditioned behavior. Read full review

Lawrence Garcia

Dec 7, 2020

Beginning as an offbeat, fish-out-of-water travelogue, To The Ends Of The Earth gradually incorporates elements of an adventure movie, self-reflexive film shoot, and even musical melodrama. By the end, it’s no less than one of the most moving films Kurosawa has ever made. Read full review

Glenn Kenny

Dec 9, 2020

Kurosawa’s command of film form gives the movie an embracing magnetism despite its seeming thinness of plot. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Simon Abrams

Dec 14, 2020

Trying to explain how this movie works as well as it does, without using excessive jargon or some kind of audiovisual aide, is tricky since “To the Ends of the Earth” isn’t about anything less than its heroine’s uncertain relationship with her foreign environment, and what she chooses to communicate simply by being seen and heard. Which is often thrilling to behold, but not so much to explain. Read full review

Christopher Machell

Jan 24, 2020

To the Ends of the Earth is a light, airy and fun journey with flashes of poetry. Read full review

Jessica Kiang

Jan 24, 2020

To the Ends of the Earth is not flawless — for one thing, it’s questionable whether a journey to as mild a shore as this one needs two hours to complete. But its rhythm is deceptive — the gentle currents of Kurosawa’s attention sluicing across the surface of the film like developer fluid, under which all the colors, dark and light, of the fulfilling but also contradictory experience of world travel come up true and sharp. Read full review

Justin Chang

Dec 19, 2020

Despite or perhaps because of its lightly sketched premise, To the Ends of the Earth emerges as the director’s most gracefully assured work in a while, though his natural gift for building tension is still made subtly manifest. Read full review

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Dan_B

Jan 15, 2021

(Español / English)

Abstract Español Hasta los confines de la Tierra es una película que acompaña a Yoko, una joven reportera japonesa y su equipo durante la filmación de un documental de viajes para al TV japonesa en Uzbekistán, en el corazón de Asia Central. La película sorprende a(Español / English)

Abstract Español

Hasta los confines de la Tierra es una película que acompaña a Yoko, una joven reportera japonesa y su equipo durante la filmación de un documental de viajes para al TV japonesa en Uzbekistán, en el corazón de Asia Central. La película sorprende a cada rato con las inesperadas peripecias de la protagonista y con sus cambios de registro, sin perder nunca su coherencia.

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Abstract English
To the Ends of the Earth is a film that accompanies Yoko, a young Japanese reporter and her team during the filming of a travel documentary for Japanese TV in Uzbekistan, in the heart of Central Asia. The film surprises at all times with the unexpected adventures of the protagonist and with the changes of her register, without ever losing her coherence.
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Reseña Español
Yoko, una joven reportera japonesa (Atsuko Maeda, actriz y cantante pop) y su equipo recorren Uzbekistán para un programa de viajes de la TV japonesa.
La película de Kishoyi Kurosawa tiene bastante de inclasificable. Es un drama, pero con momentos de comedia, algunos de ellos perturbadores, con Yoko pasando por varias situaciones incómodas y a veces insólitas. Hasta los confines… es una película impredecible que sorprende a cada rato con los avatares de su protagonista, con sus consiguientes y necesarios cambios de registro. A pesar de ello, la película conserva su coherencia de principio a fin, en parte por la figura de su protagonista, frágil pero curiosa y resuelta.
Ciertos choques culturales, las diferencias de criterio con su equipo, su férreo y tenaz profesionalismo, las vocaciones postergadas y los sueños de Yoko se suman a un registro casi documental de las exóticas locaciones por las que transitan que nunca cae en el pintoresquismo.
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English Review
Yoko, a young Japanese reporter (Atsuko Maeda, actress and pop singer) and her team travel to Uzbekistan for a Japanese TV travel program.

Kishoyi Kurosawa's film is quite unclassifiable. It's a drama, but with moments of comedy, some of them disturbing, with Yoko going through various awkward and sometimes unusual situations. Up to the End ... is an unpredictable film that surprises at all times with the vicissitudes of the protagonist of it, with the consequent and necessary changes of registry of her. Despite this, the film retains its coherence from beginning to end, in part because of the figure of her protagonist, fragile but curious and determined.

Certain cultural clashes, the differences of opinion with her team, her iron and tenacious professionalism, the postponed vocations and Yoko's dreams add to an almost documentary record of the exotic locations through which they pass that never falls into the picturesqueness.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Apr 18, 2021

Some parts didn't really make sense, like the final stretch where she escapes from the police for no reason.
A recurring fear in the main character that never really shows motives, although it's taken as a cliché that all Japanese are like that abroad.
But even so, most of this film simplySome parts didn't really make sense, like the final stretch where she escapes from the police for no reason.
A recurring fear in the main character that never really shows motives, although it's taken as a cliché that all Japanese are like that abroad.
But even so, most of this film simply but neatly constructs an absorbing character study. Certainly it depends a lot on the amount in which you can identify with the protagonist, but I feel that even if you do not make a connection with her, her journey is understandable and I think that more than one can feel sympathy for her feeling of unease in a foreign place, where everyone looks at you and identify you as an outsider. It doesn't ground all the concepts it develops, and some argument lines feel artificial for the sake of drama (the fire in Tokyo, and her concern for her boyfriend) but stays steady most of the time, and flows gracefully if not effortlessly.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Brent_Marchant

Dec 22, 2020

Take one part character study, one part campy comedy (although that may have been unintentional) and a whole vat full of schmaltz and you've got one searing mess of a movie. This Japanese offering about a clueless TV reporter for a cheesy travel show doing segments about life in UzbekistanTake one part character study, one part campy comedy (although that may have been unintentional) and a whole vat full of schmaltz and you've got one searing mess of a movie. This Japanese offering about a clueless TV reporter for a cheesy travel show doing segments about life in Uzbekistan has more changes of mood and plot than Baskin-Robbins has flavors. Between her uncanny knack for perpetually failing at her work and finding herself in the wrong parts of town, a compelling but largely inexplicable urge to free a penned-up goat, her seemingly underwhelming romantic feelings for her boyfriend back home (except when it really counts), and an underdeveloped (and somewhat indifferent) attitude toward wanting to fulfill her ambition of becoming a singer, you've got dear, sweet, shrill, naive Yoko (Atsuko Maeda), who has no meaningful or apparent direction in her life (even though she always seems to feel the need to fearfully run wherever it is she's trying to go at the moment). It's pure, unadulterated ambling from start to finish. If anyone can tell me what director Kiyoshi Kurosawa was going for here, please explain it to me.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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