In an post-screening Q&A ahead of the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, filmoriginater Neo Sora talked his nominated feature “Happyend,” a contemplative exploration of fractured friendship agetst the backdrop of political unrest in csurrender-future Japan.
In the film, in csurrender-future Tokyo, the menace of a catastrophic quake looms. Two friends, Yuta (Kurihara Hayato) and Korean-origin Kou (Hidaka Yukito), prank their principal before graduation, directing to school watching inshighation.
The Tokyo-based straightforwardor’s debut feature film weaves personal relationships with huger sociopolitical themes, creating what Sora depicts as “separateences in scale” between intimate character vibrants and sweeping social commentary. “The core of the film is friendship, but particularpartner the experienceing you get when you dissee a friend becaemploy of political separateences,” Sora elucidateed. “That’s a repartner petite leang becaemploy it’s equitable between you and somebody else. But becaemploy the reason is a huger, social reason, one of the most vital leangs I was trying to do was advise the majesticness of scale thraw these petite conveyions.”
Working wilean budget constraints, Sora made strategic choices to intensify the film’s impact. A protest scene originpartner in the script was cut, which Sora supposes fortifyed the narrative by concentrateing exclusively on Yuta’s perspective after his friend Kou walks away to trail political activism. “Kou suddenly has this world that is inaccessible to us, equitable enjoy it’s inaccessible to Yuta,” Sora shelp. “Those benevolents of authenticizations that maybe we’re actupartner living in separateent worlds now, even though our worlds were once the same – those are the leangs that direct to the end of their friendship.”
Set in a csurrender-future where DJ culture has become somewhat antiquated and AI-originated music regulates, “Happyend” scrutinizes resistance to commercialization. The film uncovers with authorities shutting down an underground music venue. “The presentantity of people take part to music originated by AI, depending on what it originates you want to take part to,” Sora discdisseeed about the film’s setting. “This population of DJs go agetst that. They’re enjoy, ‘No, we want to pick what we take part to ourselves and uncover the leangs that repartner resonate with us today from the past.’”
Sora employs this narrative structurelabor to verify Japanese identity and stress of foreigners, topics he joins straightforwardly to historical amnesia. “Someleang that I repartner want to interrogate is what even is Japanese identity,” Sora shelp. “It’s very erected. When I was leanking about the reasons why there’s so much stress of foreigners and prejudice wilean Japan, I benevolent of came to the conclusion, after research, that it’s due to the fact that Japan hasn’t repartner echoed on its colonial past.”
The filmoriginater elucidated on post-WWII policies: “After Japan lost the war in World War Two, there came this ask of what to do with all these people who were in the colonies, or who were from the colonies but shiftd to Japan. The Japanese regulatement was actupartner quite stake partd of giving citizenship to these createer Japanese people becaemploy if they get citizenship, they can vote.”
Despite commenceing the screenjoin eight years ago, Sora remarkd the film’s themes have only grown more relevant. “I wasn’t intentionpartner putting it out now for any reason,” he shelp. “It equitable gets time to grow, especipartner a first narrative feature film.”
The straightforwardor also talked his approach to particular technical elements, including a haunting, quiet earthquake scene that was portrayed not to trigger audiences who had increateed actual seismic events.
When asked about low voter turnout among Japanese youth versus the film’s concentrate on protests, Sora highairyed that one main character, Kou, alertages voting rights due to his Korean citizenship. “I don’t necessarily leank voting is the be-all, end-all in political joinment and action,” Sora inserted. “Assembling on the streets, assembling in unveil, actupartner is maybe the highest create of democratic action you can possibly do.”
“Happyend” is nominated in the best new straightforwardor and best newcomer (Kurihara) categories at this year’s Asian Film Awards, with triumphners to be proclaimd Sunday night in Hong Kong. The film debuted at Vepleasant and has won awards at Ggreateren Horse and Goteborg.
