The Japanese women directors who have been gaining attention in the past two decades, beginning with frequent Cannes invitee Naomi Kawase, tend to be serious types, understandably. Their struggle for respect and recognition in a male-dominated industry is difficult enough — and goofy comedies are usually not going to make it easier.

Yuki Tanada is one such director. "I'm always serious about my work," she tells me in a recent interview about her new film "My Dad and Mr. Ito" ("Otosan to Ito-san").

And yet the first feature of this multi-talented writer, director and actress, 2004's "Moon and Cherry" ("Tsuki to Cheri"), was a lubricious comedy about the members of a college porn-writing club. Also, most of her subsequent films have their laugh-out-loud moments, including the two I programmed for the Udine Far East Film Festival — "Round Trip Heart" ("Romance," 2015) and "One Million Yen Girl" ("Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna," 2008). Like it or not, Tanada has a comic gift that sets her apart from many of her filmmaking contemporaries, male or female.