The first dramatic feature from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s son, Neo Sora (Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus), is a “story about the near future,” a Japan constantly rocked by earthquakes and plunging toward dystopia. Best friends Kou and Yuta are in their graduating year at high school when one night they pull a major prank on their principal. The knock-on effect is the installation of a high-tech surveillance system. With this totalitarian panopticon and the general ambiance of looming government oppression, things are looking bad for our young rabble-rousers…
Teen comedy and political protest make for a good match in Happyend, and when you add thumping techno tunes; great performances from the two leads; and winning turns from the secondary cast, the result is a blast. Shirô Sano’s cantankerous principal is the perfect foil for Kou and Yuta, and the boys’ antics are all the more winning in the face of his authoritarianism. This zesty, creative, and quite moving film shows that teen hijinks are funny even in the face of catastrophe.
Supported by
Media Partner
Hayato Kurihara, HIDAKA, Yuta Hayashi, Shina Peng, Arazi, Kilala Inori
Japan/USA
2024
In Japanese with English subtitles
At Vancouver Playhouse
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Kaoru Hayashi, Douglas Choi, Robina Riccitiello, Ema Ryan Yamazaki
Producer
Albert Tholen, Aiko Masubuchi, Eric Nyari, Alex C. Lo, Anthony Chen
Screenwriter
Neo Sora
Cinematography
Bill Kirstein
Editor
Albert Tholen
Production Design
Norifumi Ataka
Original Music
Lia Ouyang Rusli
Neo Sora
Raised in New York and Tokyo, Neo Sora is a filmmaker, artist, and translator living between the two cities. He directed the feature-length concert film Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus (2023) which premiered at Venice. He is the director/writer of the short films The Chicken (Locarno 2020) and Sugar Glass Bottle (Indie Memphis 2022, Best Narrative Short), and was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2021. Happyend is his debut fiction feature as a writer/director.
Filmography: Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus (2023)
Photo by Aiko Masubuchi
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Rebecca Horn – the Secret Life of Things
Rebecca Horn's extraordinary biography is interwoven with her surreal oeuvre. An essential document of one of the 20th century's most influential artists, Rebecca Horn – The Secret Life of Things celebrates the unsung legacy of a pioneering visionary.
Image: © Rebecca Horn
What Remains
Stuck in a big city in a mind-numbing domestic routine, a young poetess finds herself at crossroads when her role as a mother and wife starts to overshadow her identity as an artist.
School for Defectors
School for Defectors is an intimate and quietly uplifting documentary that follows a group of 20 teenagers, children of North Korean defectors, as they adjust to life and education at Jangdaehyun School in Busan, South Korea.
Fruit Gathering
Achingly sensual and graced with fine performances, Fruit Gathering depicts embattled desire in a conservative society. Two working-class women fall into a romantic relationship in contemporary Myanmar — but is their love real, or borne of desperation?
Short Forum 7: War at Home
Truly, no one is safe until everyone is safe.