ReviewHappy Hour movie review: Drive My Car director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s 2015 masterpiece is a five-hour meditation on friendship, marriage and connection

Ryusuke Hamaguchi is no stranger to shooting long films, and Happy Hour has a 317-minute running time

There are no fast cuts, and every scene and conversation is allowed to play out at length in this engrossing story of four middle-class Japanese women

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Maiko Mihara in a still from Happy Hour (category IIA, Japanese), directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Sachie Tanaka, Rira Kawamura and Hazuki Kikuchi co-star.

Published: 4:15pm, 10 Jun 2022

4.5/5 stars

“The future for 37-year-old women is bright,” remarks Akari (Sachie Tanaka) as she and her friends picnic at a beauty spot in Kobe, Japan, at the beginning of the 2015 film Happy Hour, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s slow-burning, five-hour meditation on friendship, marriage, contentment and connection.

Screening in two parts in Hong Kong cinemas, this intimate epic is receiving a limited release following the Oscar-winning success of the Japanese director’s more recent film Drive My Car (which, at three hours, feels like a mere appetiser). As daunting as Happy Hour’s 317-minute running time is, you’ll soon be sucked into this revolving story of four middle-class Japanese women.

A divorcee and no-nonsense nurse, Akari is the most outspoken of the group. Jun (Rira Kawamura) is splitting from her biologist husband, a case that will take them to court. Then there’s Sakurako (Hazuki Kikuchi), a married mother who not only has to contend with her stressed husband, but an unruly teenage son and live-in mother-in-law.

The fourth is Fumi (Maiko Mihara), growing insecure as her book editor spouse is increasingly drawn to a prize female author, Kozue (Reina Shiihashi).

Co-written by Hamaguchi with Tadashi Nohara and Tomoyuki Takahashi, Happy Hour truly takes its sweet time, with scenes that luxuriate in their length. While the performances from a largely unknown cast can sway between convincing and stilted, there are no fast cuts or trims here, as Hamaguchi allows conversations to unfold gently, probing ever deeper into his characters.