Cannes 2024 (Directors’ Fortnight): Desert of Namibia (by Yôko Yamanaka) | Review
Yôko Yamanaka’s sophomore feature Desert of Namibia is a parable of 21st century listlessness that puts the audience in the protagonist’s apathetic headspace, though this sometimes crosses the line into tedium. The film premiered at the 2024 Director’s Fortnight as part of the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
Kana, played by Yuumi Kawai, is a 21-year-old woman living in Japan who finds herself completely dull to everything around her. In the movie’s first scene, Kana is eating at a cafe with her friend. Her friend nonchalantly breaks the news that someone they went to school with had committed suicide. As she describes the details of the death, Kana can’t help but wander to a conversation at a nearby table: a man describing to his group of friends the concept of a “no-panties hot pot,” where none of the waitresses wear underwear and the floor is made of mirrors. His friends question the appeal of such establishments.
The opening scene showcases the perverse humor of the film as well as Kana’s lack of care for anything around her, whether it be a genuine tragedy or random instances of vulgarity. Desert of Namibia (Namibia no sabaku) works best in its moments of pure atmosphere: crawling shots of downtown Japan and lifeless clubbing scenes perfectly capture the urban ennui that has made people like Kana numb to their environments. Throughout the film, time passes at a narcotic pace, and the audience is put into the mindset of someone with little regard for events in general.
As far as plot is concerned, the primary conflict happens very early on in the movie: Hayashi (Daichi Kaneko), a man Kana is having an affair with, asks her to break up with her boyfriend Honda (Kanichiro). Honda is detrimentally caring to the point of obsession, but Kana breaks up with him effectively on a whim. As one man is replaced for another in her life, her once-electric relationship with Hayashi becomes monotonous and eventually violent.
It is very obvious that Kana and Hayashi are very bad for one another, and the rest of the film follows their many, many fights that end with zero resolution. From here on, the film could be a meditation on the cyclical nature of abuse: for Kana, these fights are so repetitive that they lose all meaning. For the audience, however, such scenes become tedious and risk losing impact.
In between these scenes various things happen, ranging from unimportant to life-changing: she quits her job, she breaks her neck, she gets diagnosed with bipolar disorder—the film presents them all with the same emphasis, and drives through these plot points with the same devil-may-care pacing. But at over two hours long, the film definitely drags on with its treatment of events, especially since no catharsis is provided for Kana or the world at large. This tonal indifference is clearly an intentional feature of Desert of Namibia, though how effective this will be depends on how willing the viewer is to resonate with Kana’s perspective.
Yuumi Kawai’s portrayal of Kana is what undeniably keeps the film afloat. She perfectly incorporates large, physical performance with small character details, such as Kana’s subtle inclination to smile every time bad things are happening. Despite Kana’s unrelenting aversion to change and her general unpleasantness as a character, she brings an undeniable heart to the character that is necessary for the movie to work as a parable of modern womanhood—in no uncertain terms, she shows that it’s not Kana’s fault.
Our reporters are on the ground in Cannes, France, to bring you exclusive content from the 77th Cannes Film Festival—explore our coverage here.
