Happy Hour

Outside of animation, I’ve really fallen off the wagon when it comes to watching Japanese films. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t make the effort to find interesting things anymore, or if it’s that there are just less interesting films coming out, but that’s where I found myself. I’m happy though that my friend Hiroko Tabuchi (New York Times reporter extraordinaire) pointed out a film she just watched and enjoyed, in the form of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Happy Hour. At over 5 hours long, it doesn’t sound like something that’s easy to take in, but reading Richard Brody’s review for the New Yorker really makes it feel like something special. I hope I’ll get to watch it sometime.