A Double Life

Tama (Mugi Kadowaki), a shy doctoral candidate in philosophy, feels stalled in her studies and somewhat detached from life. In an almost Faustian moment, her philosophy professor (Lily Frank) makes a strange recommendation that will change everything about the way she sees the world: much like French photographer Sophie Calle, whose work is based on “following strangers,” he suggests that she pick up a stranger and follow him every day so she learns his dullest routines and deepest secrets. On the spur of the moment, she selects her neighbor, a successful book editor who seems like the perfect family man. As Tama follows him closely for a few days, she discovers the thrill of becoming a stranger’s shadow and realizes there is more to the ordinary man than meets the eyes. Soon her growing voyeuristic obsession gets her inextricably tangled in other people’s secret lives. A Double Life offers up a truly original voice in new Japanese cinema. North American Premiere.