HAPPYEND
DRAMA | JAPANESE | 113 min
In HAPPYEND, set in a near-future Tokyo where the threat of a catastrophic earthquake pervades daily life, two rabble-rousing best friends are about to graduate high school. One night, they pull a consequential prank on their Principal, which leads to a surveillance system being installed in their school. Stuck between the oppressive security system and a darkening national political situation, the two respond in contrasting ways, leading them to confront differences they never had to face before.
DIRECTOR Neo Sora
CAST Hayato Kurihara, Yukito Hidaka, Yuta Hayashi, Shina Peng, ARAZI, Kilala Inori, PUSHIM, Ayumu Nakajima, Makiko Watanabe, Shiro Sano
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION Japan
UK TRAILER COMING SOON
“The movie never loses sight of the personal, involving us from the start in the experiences of Yuta, Kou and their friends, while bringing a light yet lingering touch to larger fears affecting all of us.... A sure-footed movie that is set in the future but fully plugged into global political anxieties of the present.”
— The Hollywood Reporter
“Sora displays a subtly fervent faith in music as perhaps the ultimate expression of nascent individuality, and therefore, ever and eternally, a threat to regimes that rely on conformity and obedience.”
— Variety
“The best of the three is Neo Sora’s fiction feature debut, following quickly on the heels of his highly acclaimed doc about his father, “Ryuichi Sakamato: Opus.” He proves to have an incredibly confident eye, shooting his young performers in Tokyo against a backdrop of concrete roads and buildings in a manner that’s both mesmerizing and slightly terrifying.”
— RogerEbert.com
“A crisp and understated piece, with Bill Kirstein’s cinematography making the most of nocturnal cityscapes and of sterile empty spaces…. A gentle, piano-based score by Lia Ouyang Rusli carries its own echoes of Sakamoto stateliness.”
— Screen Daily
FESTIVALS + AWARDS
BFI London Film Festival
Official Selection
Venice Film Festival
Official Selection
Toronto Film Festival
Official Selection
New York Film Festival
Official Selection
Göteborg Film Festival
Official Selection
Thessaloniki Film Festival
Official Selection
Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Winner: Young Cinema Award
Nominee: Best Film and Best Screenplay