Awards and festivals

Film description

Towako is not a nice girl. Everything irritates her, she gets hysterical in a blink of an eye, she is cruel to her partner, who not only stands her viciousness, but also provides for her. Meanwhile, a new man appears on the horizon, and the woman follows him blindly – perhaps because he reminds her of someone from her past?

This adaptation of a novel by one of the most popular contemporary Japanese writers is a subversive drama, balancing on the border of a psychological thriller. The story of a toxic romance undermines the conventional boundaries of male and female characters, leaning towards dark emotions and dangerous impulses. Yu Aoi, the Japanese audience's sweetheart, famous for playing delicate, shy girls, proves herself in a radically different role. Her character is far from being likable, and yet it is impossible to take your eyes off of her. The story of desire, submissiveness, and revenge reminds the critics of tropes known from the films of Park Chan-wook and Tetsuya Nakashima, where love always goes hand in hand with madness, and the sheer intensity of emotions shuts down rational actions.

Jagoda Murczyńska