Two Seasons, Two Strangers

Already a critics’ favourite in his native Japan, Miyake Sho should see his international following surge thanks to this Locarno-crowned adaptation of two manga by Tsuge Yoshiharu. That source material, a summer tale of seaside attraction and a winter sojourn at a secluded inn, becomes a delicate exploration of narrative invention in the supple hands of Miyake. Crucial to hinging his diptych together is Li (Shim Eunkyung), a Korean screenwriter in Japan. What begins as a film (within the film) written by her—one pregnant with romantic possibilities between two disaffected strangers—transforms into the story of the artist herself after the death of a mentor drives her into the mountains. There, a chilly reception by a forlorn innkeeper (Shinichi Tsutsumi) gradually thaws into something else. As themes in the second scenario start resembling those in the first, questions of authorship—within the film and of the film itself—are subtly raised.