Happyend

Happyend (stylized in Japan as HAPPYEND)^[5][6][7] is a 2024 science fiction drama film, written and directed by Neo Sora. It stars Kurihara Hayato, Hidaka Yukito, Ayumu Nakajima, Makiko Watanabe, and Shirō Sano.

It had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2024, in the Orizzonti section, and was released in Japan on October 4, 2024, by Bitters End, and was released in the United States on September 12, 2025, by Film Movement.

Set in near-future Tokyo, two best friends are about to graduate high school, while threats of an earthquake loom. One night, they pull a prank on their principal, leading to a surveillance system being installed. They respond in contrasting ways.^[8]

• Hayato Kurihara as Yuta (ユウタ, Yūta)
• Yukito Hidaka as Kou (コウ, Kō)
• Yuta Hayashi as Ata-chan
• Shina Peng as Ming
• Arazi as Tomu
• Kilala Inori as Fumi
• Pushim as Fukuko
• Ayumu Nakajima as Okada
• Makiko Watanabe as Yuko
• Shirō Sano as Principal Nagai
• Masaru Yahagi as Taira
• Yousuke Yukimatsu as DJ

In August 2020, it was announced that Neo Sora would direct the film, then titled Earthquake, from a screenplay he wrote.^[9] The film was selected for the 2022 Sundance Institute Screenwriting and Directing labs.^[10]

The film had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2024, in the Orizzonti section.^[11] Prior to, Metrograph Pictures acquired North American distribution rights to the film.^[12] It will also screen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2024.^[13][14] and the 2024 New York Film Festival.^[15][16] It was released in Japan on October 4, 2024, by Bitters End.^[17] It was scheduled to be released in the United States on June 20, 2025, however was pulled from the schedule.^[18] In July 2025, Metrograph Pictures was announced to no longer be distributing the film.^[19] In July 2025, Film Movement acquired distribution rights to the film, and set it for a September 12, 2025, release.^[20]

It was also invited at the 29th Busan International Film Festival in 'Special program in focus' Teenage Minds, Teenage Movies section and it will be screened there in October 2024.^[21] And take part in the 'First Feature Competition' of the 2024 BFI London Film Festival.^[22] The film will make its South Asia premiere at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 in the World Cinema section.^[23]

Happyend explores how political unrest and personal relationships intersect. The film centers on a friendship that fractures as one character becomes politically active while the other withdraws. Director Neo Sora contrasts small, personal moments with broader social shifts, touching on themes such as surveillance, youth disillusionment, and state control. The story also engages with questions of Japanese identity, xenophobia, and historical amnesia, particularly regarding Japan's colonial past. Underground music scenes and resistance to AI-generated culture reflect the characters’ pushback against commercialization and conformity. The film also addresses the limited political agency of marginalized groups, including Japan's Zainichi Korean community.^[24]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 53 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Balancing sharp social satire with tender adolescent drama, Happyend is a crisp and heartfelt story that quietly captures the enormous emotional stakes of youth on the cusp of adulthood."^[25] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[26]

The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney praised Happyend for its "expert tonal balance between the bittersweet, elegiac qualities of the end-of-school drama" and its portrayal of an educational institution "that becomes like a prison," reflecting broader political anxieties. He noted the film's "light yet lingering touch to larger fears affecting all of us" while remaining grounded in the personal. Rooney also highlighted Bill Kirstein's cinematography for "finding poetry in the stark urban landscapes," and noted that Lia Ouyang Rusli's score complemented the visuals. He described the mostly newcomer cast as "naturals."^[27] Writing for Screen Daily, Jonathan Romney described the film as "a crisp and understated piece" and highlighted Bill Kirstein's cinematography for its use of "nocturnal cityscapes" and "sterile empty spaces" within school settings. He also noted the young cast's "organic energy," though remarked they were "unconvincingly a little heavy on the pop star looks."^[28]

Slate's Marshall Shaffer rated the film 2 out of 4 stars, writing that the director "struggles to balance the immediacy of adolescent angst with the long-range outlook of using the students’ experience as a canary in the coal mine for society at large." The review noted that Happyend "never quite satisfies as a microcosmic analysis of Japan" due to limited depiction of the world outside the school. While describing the film as a "confident narrative feature debut" with insight into generational and national direction, Shaffer notes that it lacks "connective tissue between the small details and Sora's bigger-picture views."^[29] Whang Yee Ling of The Straits Times gave it 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as "unassuming but emotionally textured."^[30] The Guardian voted the film as one of the best to be released in the U.K. in 2025, calling it "beguiling debut feature set in an oppressive near-future Japan."^[31]

• Mundane science fiction

• Happyend at IMDb