Yukiko Mishima has directed everything from NHK documentaries to commercial films in her three-decade career, but her strongest work has been dramas about women caught up in turbulent relationships or confronted with past traumas, as exemplified by “Dear Etranger” (2017) and “Voice” (2024).
“Two Cigarettes, Three Nights,” her latest feature film, fits this template, though the tone is not as dark as in the abovementioned films.
Instead, it occupies a sweet spot that is less a compromise than a new and unconventional approach to her core themes. Its emotions feel close to lived experience, with two principals who are flawed but somehow intimately relatable.?
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