Yôko Yamanaka’s second feature follows a 21-year-old Japanese woman with erratic humor as she ghosts one boyfriend after another. A beautician with little commitment to her work and no real desire to achieve anything, she burns every bridge, accumulating broken hearts in her wake. With its dry editing and zooms, DESERT OF NAMIBIA conveys the disarray and destructiveness of a young woman pushing against a rigid and patriarchal Tokyo with few paths of resonance to offer her.
