Nipponica

Set in pandemic-era Tokyo, the film focuses on a young woman (Yukino Takahashi) whose boyfriend has absconded, leaving her broke and feeling broken. She drifts into sex work, taking the professional name Kotone.

She quickly transforms from a lost-looking waif wandering down Kabukicho streets to a wised-up sex worker who takes nothing and no one at face value. She works at a “cafe” where masked women sit staring at their smartphones while men on the other side of a large window make their selection, which a male employer conveys to the chosen woman. The newly formed couple then retires to a private room.