The 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival came to a close Monday, with a screwball romantic comedy by Japanese director Akiko Ohku winning the sole award to be bestowed this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"Hold Me Back," which won the Audience Award after having its world premiere at this year's festival, tells the tale of a single 31-year-old woman dependent on an imaginary counselor in her brain named "A" falling in love with a younger man.
The film, based on a novel by Risa Wataya, winner of Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize, is a humorous exploration of the inner struggles of working women in modern-day Tokyo.