I was often mildly bored while watching Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth, but it’s sat well since.

| Dec 2, 2022

An interesting shift into the minor key from Kurosawa, who typically embraces a tension-filled style.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 27, 2021

A mesmerizing movie about isolation, real or perceived, and how it can warp our perceptions. When it finally connects with the audience, it does so in a big way.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 3, 2021

An idiosyncratic tale of being culturally adrift, To the Ends of the Earth is a great movie to watch to close out a strange year.

| Feb 8, 2021

Kiyoshi Kurosawa conjures an atmosphere of humorous dislocation and acute fear with To the Ends of the Earth...

| Jan 27, 2021

...Kiyoshi Kurosawa is one of cinema's finest conductors of emotional experience.

| Jan 22, 2021

A film that intrigues and amazes. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 4, 2021

That To the Ends of the Earth is a state-sanctioned attempt at commemorating diplomacy makes its artistry that much more impressive.

| Dec 29, 2020

Writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa has made an indie-film star of the charming Atsuko Maeda. It's a journey into the Uzbekistan of your mind.

| Original Score: A- | Dec 22, 2020

Best known for his paranormal dramas, Kurosawa has made a thoughtful, gentle movie about cultural divides, tourist disorientation, and a young woman's realization of her potential.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 18, 2020

More than any film before it, To the Ends of the Earth fully embodies the isolation of culture shock.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2020

It's a history lesson, yes, but it's also a lesson in basic humanity.

| Dec 18, 2020

The search for authentic experiences in our over-mediated age can be an elusive one, almost as slippery as this provocative mood piece.

| Dec 17, 2020

Aside from Maeda's multifaceted lead performance and a few compelling sequences, the film feels somewhat lightweight.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 17, 2020

This lovely character study of a young woman finding herself while lost in a foreign land was commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Uzbekistan and Kurosawa's found a beautiful way to do it.

| Original Score: B+ | Dec 17, 2020

A penetrating portrait of the pitfalls of modern life-but Kurosawa should have ditched the imitation Sound of Music finale.

| Dec 16, 2020

To the Ends of the Earth" raises consciousness of outsiders and appreciation of what truly makes life worthwhile.

| Dec 16, 2020

Part fish-out-of-water comedy, part media satire, part feminist manifesto, To the Ends of the Earth is a quiet wonder of a film, a perceptive and lyrical interrogation of alienation and loneliness that lands like a depth charge.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 15, 2020

To the Ends of the Earth is an astutely observed study, one with an exceptionally keen eye on the spectator's relationship to this character and the world she finds herself lost in.

| Dec 12, 2020

A movie where gorgeously lit and framed exterior photography, as well as consummately precise body-language-centric performances, often convey more than most dialogue could.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 11, 2020