From Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage to Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, the mundane can become epic given the proper length. The 317 minutes of Happy Hour (2015) are more than enough to connect with Jun, Akari, Sakurako and Fumi, four housewives living in Kobe, Japan. The divorce of one of them will test their friendship and expectations from life.
With this film, director Hamaguchi Ryusuke wanted to make a female version of John Cassavetes’ Husbands but the whole experience is more like a series. Not the screaming, Desperate Housewives/Sex & The City type, but an intimate, warm, bittersweet exploration of womanhood, with much attention for detail, psychology and conversations. The film owes a great deal to the chemistry between its four non-professional actresses – Sachie Tanaka, Maiko Mihara, Hazuki Kikuchi, Rira Kawamura – and their emotional honesty.
Film details
- Country of production
- Japan
- Year
- 2015
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2016
- Length
- 317'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
