By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.3 cats
Director: Neo Sora
Starring: Hayato Kurihara | Makiko Watanabe | Shia Peng | Shirô Sano | Yuta Koga
Year: 2025
Running time: 113
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29279903/reference/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_happyend
Michael says: “Japanese film, HAPPYEND is the debut narrative feature from director Neo Sora, whose previous work has been in shorts and documentaries. HAPPYEND is a fairly standard story about a group of high school friends nearing graduation who are dealing with the inevitable separation of their group friendship, even as they grapple with maturing, living every day as fun and games, and learning about the importance of protesting injustice despite the ramifications. The film is set slightly in the future, but is surely relevant to what we are going through right now.
“Acting and technical aspects of the film were good. Screenplay was a little standard and formulaic. Overall, enjoyable enough, but I had been hoping for a lot more. 3 cats
“Screened at the Independent Film Festival Boston, Brattle Theatre”
Chris says: “A terrific sight gag and a newfangled high concept alone do not make for a wholly satisfying narrative from writer/director Neo Sora (RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: AN OPUS). Set in the near-future (though low budget enough that one may not discern this from sight alone), high school students are subject to a Big Brother-esque AI surveillance following a prank that happens to coincide with a series of minor earthquakes portending fears of an upcoming major one. The quieter, more casual moments between childhood best friends Yuta and Kuo suggest Sora has at least learned something from the films of Kore-eda, if not how to economically tell a story. Albeit an interesting mix of humanist drama and slightly absurdist satire, HAPPYEND is less notable for its accomplishments (the sight gag is pretty inspired, after all) and more for what it could have been. 3 cats
“(IFF Boston 2025 film #5; will be distributed this summer by Metrograph.)”
Julie says: “Seemed an interesting premise. Kids in the future being watched by ‘big brother’. It just didn’t work for me. Scenes were too long and the story/stories were just not really there. Did not come together for me. 1 cat
“Seen 4/27/2025 at the Brattle Theatre Cambridge as part of the IFF Boston 3:30 113 minute runtime”