Movie Review: Two Seasons, Two Strangers
Screened at Stockholm International Film Festival 2025
One-liner: A contemplative, meandering and tender coming-of-age drama with solid performances.
Two Seasons, Two Strangers is a tender, coming-of-age drama about a screenwriter trying to find herself again. Writer-director Shô Miyake’s film begins with the writer seeking inspiration as she embarks on a new screenplay. This gentle, thoughtful immersion into the story is artful, shifting gears from the idea of simply watching a film to observing a person in the midst of her creative process.
This subtle shift indicates to audiences that what they are about to watch is somewhat unconventional. While this fly-on-the-wall introduction sets the tone and pace, it utilizes the familiar storytelling convention of a framing device: the storyteller composing the narrative as it unfolds. Two Seasons, Two Strangers then moves into a tender summer romance about Nagisa and Natsuo, whose paths cross while on holiday in a seaside town.
Through earnest, solid performances from Shim Eun-kyung as Li, as well as Yumi Kawai and Mansaku Takada as the young lovers, we get a clearer understanding of this dreamy world. This artful, silky, and emotive film-within-a-film makes it seem as though this is the story. Yet, as warm and sensory as it is… the concept is subverted. Two Seasons, Two Strangers lives up to its title when it withdraws from this device to bring us back to the present. From this point, a sad interlude compels the introverted screenwriter on a journey to a mountainside resort where she is forced to make alternate arrangements, meeting an old man by the name of Benzo in the process.
“I’m here now.”
It possesses a playful daydream quality, drifting along like a leaf on a stream—getting stuck here and there, assimilating meaning in a poetic manner. However, when the screenwriter meets her unexpected mentor and sounding board, the story begins to stagnate and feels as if it is starting all over again… leaving us on something of an ellipsis.
Ultimately, Two Seasons, Two Strangers is a meandering drama with a melancholic undertone that is entertaining, keeps you guessing and is poetic in its character study. However, as it moves from its introspective signature elements to what feels like a reinvention or reboot, the film plucks at various story notes with mixed results. It maintains tonal consistency, but the slow-moving and ethereal plotting makes it feel fairly wispy. At times, it seems to prioritize style over substance when it comes to unearthing the character portrait at its core.
The bottom line: Tender
