‘Two Cigarettes, Three Nights’ explores messy emotions and moral compromises

In Akane Chihaya’s 2014 novel “Otoko Tomodachi” (“Male Friend”), Haseo asks Kanna a question: “What would you do the day the world ends?” The question took on a different meaning for filmmaker Yukiko Mishima when she read the novel in 2020. She had recently released her film “Shape of Red” and was preparing to shoot a new project when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered theaters and brought production to a halt. It felt like something that could genuinely happen at any moment.”