“This Hamburger Has No Pickles,” the new film from director and screenwriter Satoshi Kimura, may be missing any actual gherkins, but its protagonists find themselves in pickles aplenty.
The film, which takes place in the same “universe” as Kimura’s recent films “There Is a Landing on the Stairs” and “Take Me to Another Planet,” aired in four parts last year on Tokyo MX before getting adapted for theatrical release starting Feb. 16. Made up largely of one-on-one conversations between lovers, friends and strangers, “Pickles” offers little in the way of a grand narrative or cinematic ambition but instead serves up a quotidian peek at the eternal struggle of living and communicating with others — in a funny way.