Desert of Namibia

Details

This special limited edition slipcover (designed by Dylan Haley) is limited to 1,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

Named after Yasujiro Ozu’s custom-made, tatami-level, crab-like tripod, Kani is a new home video label dedicated to leveling the gaze and furthering the understanding of Asian cinema in North America. Focused on genre-defying films, Kani aims to expand the canon, bolster up-and-coming filmmakers and reintroduce repertory classics in context. Vinegar Syndrome’s sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing this diverse and unique home video line!

21-year-old Kana (rising star Yuumi Kawai) works a disaffected job at a beauty salon, where she bristles against the beauty expectations placed on women her age. Her erratic mood and default to self-destruct impacts all of her relationships, as moments of levity erupt into violence and optimism simmers to despair. Bored with her slavish boyfriend, she finds another; the novel excitement of it all soon devolving into a volatile predicament. Uncommitted and trapped in her own life, Kana slowly makes her way towards the inner desert of her emotions. 

Alternating between claustrophobic blocking, ample zooms and expressive whip-pans brought together by dryly comedic editing and an intense actor’s direction, the sophomore effort from director Yoko Yamanaka (the youngest filmmaker to have a film selected at the Berlin International Film Festival with her 2017 debut Amiko) provides a frank and dynamic examination of womanhood and mental health in contemporary Japan. Inspired by the female protagonists of Yasuzo Masumura as much as the intense Cassavetes/Rowlands collaboration, Yamanaka breaks out with a work of stark confrontational honesty.

“Yoko Yamanaka's Desert of Namibia is profoundly affecting; imbued with a calm, introverted cruelty; like a girl without a home standing on any Tokyo street corner saying to the world, ‘I don't understand!’” – Lou Ye (Suzhou River)

"Yamanaka’s film defies cliché by depicting an unpleasant side of girlhood that many would prefer to deny exists." - Ariana King, Far-Near

"With Desert of Namibia, Yoko Yamanaka creates a heroine for our thoroughly addled times." Lisa Wong Macabasco, Vogue

"Desert of Namibia is a somewhat unclassifiable film, but it’s deeply felt, defiant, embodied – female." - Blake Simons, IndieWire

directed by: Yoko Yamanaka
starring: Yuumi Kawaii, Daichi Kaneko, Kanichiro, Erika Karata
2024 / 137 min / 1.33:1 / Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1

Additional info:

• Region A Blu-ray
• High Definition presentation
• Theatrical Trailer
• Interview with director Yoko Yamanaka (2025)
• Panel discussion with director Yoko Yamanaka and actor Yuumi Kawaii (2024)
• Audio Commentary with director Yoko Yamanaka and actors Yuumi Kawaii, Daichi Kaneko, and Kanichiro
• Featurette "Yoko in NYC" (Aaron Hunt, 2025)
• Q&A with director Yoko Yamanaka at MOMI First Look (2025)
• Booklet with on-set photographs and new writing from critic Katherine Connell
• New art from Dylan Haley
• English, English SDH subtitles