Since the start of the pandemic, going to the cinema has felt even more like escapism than it did already. Audiences in Japan may have diligently kept their masks on, but the onscreen characters have been mostly unencumbered.
Perhaps filmmakers decided, not unreasonably, that viewers wouldn’t want to be reminded of the drab reality of living with COVID-19. It’s not like there’s been any shortage of stories to tell.
In Kenji Yamauchi’s “Dawning on Us,” the pandemic doesn’t just provide a backdrop for the story but serves as its main engine. Set in the wake of a lockdown more onerous than anything Japan actually had to endure, it considers the consequences of spending too much time with your nearest and dearest.