‘Happyend’ Review: Neo Sora’s Fiction Feature Debut Is a Poetic Portrait of Youth in Crisis

TIFF 2024: The kids are more than alright – though their world is not in this incisive film

Happyend TIFF
"Happyend" (Credit: TIFF)

Early on in “Happyend,” writer/director Neo Sora’s assured first narrative feature following his revelatory documentary about his late father, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” we see a group of youths running into the silent streets of Tokyo after police shut down an underground party. Things could have been dire had it not been for two of them creating a distraction so they could all escape, yet they yell out in excitement as they hurl themselves into the darkness of the night before everything stops and they’re all frozen in time.

Accompanied by Lia Ouyang Rusli’s stellar score, the title card gently appears then quickly disappears.

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