a Ryûsuke Hamaguchi thread for all your Hamaguchi chat

new film Asako I & II is premiering at festivals at the moment and manages to be both more conventional and odder than Happy Hour. uses the language of rom-coms sincerely and reflectively without ever feeling smug or condescending. found it utterly beguiling and hilarious for most of its running time but still chewing over the third act machinations; part of me thinks ending half an hour earlier might have made for a more interesting if less satisfying film. both leads give really great performances, particularly Karata in communicating these peaks and troughs of female desire behind an unassertive shell. there's also an unforgettably cold and brutal line delivery in the opening of the closing act that i truly loved. seemed to go down really well with the crowd and there were lots of big laughs which was lovely to see.

Happy Hour is a classic imo but interested if anyone has seen any of his preceding work?

I've had mixed feelings about both Happy Hour and Asako I & II. He's great at creating these amazing scenes - the poetry event! the Ibsen earthquake! the Chekhov argument! - but I feel like the plots in both films kinda got in the way of that amazing feeling of just being there with these great people. The plots are weird in both films, the characters do weird stuff. I just want to watch them do some trust exercises for another fifteen minutes or so.

happy hour now streaming on mubi, in the uk at least

only have seen Happy Hour and Heaven Is Still Far Away. the intimacy and transparency of them is really disarming and attractive

not seen drive my car yet but glad my man ryusuke is getting the plaudits he deserved for asako i & ii

Haha, I never once thought this year to see if he had a thread.

Me neither.

And devvine otm

any london folks, i have a spare ticket for drive my car at the ica tonight

maybe finally time to watch Happy Hour.

Especially since I missed Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy.

I should have watched Drive My Car on Netflix at my sister's house over Thanksgiving break, but hopefully I'll have another chance. Happy Hour was strange in the end. Japanese culture seems very different from what I know of Korean culture.

Netflix? What country?

having now seen both, they are really accomplished works (especially the final of tale of fortune and fantasy, and the middle bulk of drive my car), and i can understand to some extent why these two seem to be cutting through to a wider audience, but i have some reservations about both, and i certainly don't think either of these films are better than asako i & ii

will post something longer when i've clarified my thoughts, but i think drive my car suffers from a narrative conservatism that it tries to maybe undercut, without totally subverting it, and doesn't totally manage to have it's cake and eat it.

to put it bluntly; i think he should go full rivette, and avoid anything that owes any similarity to mfa creative writing advice.

also the epilogue is a mistake

Can one safely watch Asoko I & II before Happy Hour?

sure, they're very different in style. don't know where it's available to stream but feel free to ilxmail me

I did

xpost

Criterion Channel has a Hamaguchi stash.

NOT LIKELY SPOILER ALERT

(I wish more had been shown about the divorce and the son of the friend and less about the crutch and the nightclub and the abuse.)

(The opening car ride and encounter on the bus were very nice.)

(sorry it was actually a bus and there were dappled leaves and they were excited about their trip and the pace was slow)

Youn, do you know how to use the h is for hidden tags?

Criterion has those two, Happy Hour and Asoko I & II, afaik iirc etc

I remember some ancient time when I thought I would watch Happy Hour on Kanopy.

It’s also on Pluto TV, apparently!

Hey, Apple TV app finally figured out that the MUBI app exists apart from Amazon Prime Video.

to put it bluntly; i think he should go full rivette

Yes, while I was watching Drive my Car I was trying to make the experience more Rivettian, but all the plotty character stuff kept getting in the way, especially in the final third, where Hamaguchi was showing AND telling a bit too too much. I blamed Murakami!

All the Chekov stuff put me in mind of another good but narratively over-worked three hour art movie, Celan's Winter Sleep, even down to similarities in the landscapes.

I haven't used hidden tags before and would appreciate any tips. I think my parenthetical comments were pretty much non-spoilers because in Happy Hour I don't think it's so much what happens as how it happens ... unfoldingly slowly and unnoticeably strangely within plot and within character whereas with Rivette I feel as though all strangeness is invented and meant to be observed and the viewer is a recognized outsider.

xp lol yes, i thought murakami might be the culprit but, perhaps luckily, have managed to completely avoid him in my life so far.

... brings to mind ... repetition ... persistence ... doggedness ...

Watched my first film of his today: Asoko I & II. My wife walked in partway through and said the plot sounded very manga-like. Not quite sure what to make of it -- or what we're meant to make of it -- but it was compelling. Features maybe one of my favorite movie cats.

Did a Criterion top 10:
https://www.criterion.com/current/top-10-lists/393-ryusuke-hamaguchi-s-top-10

People often say that the three most important Japanese directors are Mizoguchi, Akira Kurosawa, and Yasujiro Ozu, but I believe Naruse should take Kurosawa’s place.

and riding for certified five baggers the golden coach, lumiere d'ete, and holiday. might be enough for me to forgive him for that epilogue

He did a remake of Solaris as a student film?

Maybe it was more than a student film, even though made for a class with Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

I saw Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy last night, all three parts were interesting

refreshingly straightforward and translucent

otm

it's very good yeah

Wheel of Fortune ... now on UK MUBI

…and The Criterion Channel.

It focused on coincidence and unrequited love, and straying within relationships was presented as a matter of fact. Each segment involved role-playing, and the film gave its characters a chance for redemption and closure

Is Ayako available to watch in the US?

Asako I & II is on the Criterion Channel, Mubi, and Kanopy

Yes, there is an abundance of streaming Asako I & II. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s on Pluto TV as well.

Happy Hour seems to have survived its purported May Day purge on Criterion.

Just started happy hour last night

OP OTM about asako should have ended 20 minutes earlier

maybe right when baku puts his hand down on the table, but before asako takes it. Or alternately ten minutes later when she says good bye and stares at the ocean. I didn’t like the resolution at the end.

As of today Happy Hour back on MUBI US too!

I got almost halfway through happy hour until I asked myself why I was watching it

Did you answer yourself and continue?

I thought the ending of Asako I & II was really affecting, the pleading for redemption, the wavering and the ambiguous ending

and the view of the river

to put it bluntly; i think he should go full rivette

Yes, while I was watching Drive my Car I was trying to make the experience more Rivettian, but all the plotty character stuff kept getting in the way, especially in the final third, where Hamaguchi was showing AND telling a bit too too much. I blamed Murakami!

All the Chekov stuff put me in mind of another good but narratively over-worked three hour art movie, Celan's Winter Sleep, even down to similarities in the landscapes.

― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 19 December 2021 bookmarkflaglink

Thought about Rivette a lot but also how it was a good departure to use that example to do something a bit different with the road trip film, by replacing those long train journeys. The delay-delay of getting to that long road journey where the duo confront what can't be was a long time coming, and was nicely shortened at the end.

Did you answer yourself and continue?

Almost done with happy hour
Now I wish it was five hours longer
The dance scene in the club was a pretty great cinematic moment

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy > Drive My Car

Need to watch the first one soon.

Yes xpost

HH > WOFAF > DMC

All three of those - (Happy Hour, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, and Drive My Car) are pretty great, as are Asako I & II and Heaven Is Still Far Away. It's hard to choose between them

thread revive because the shot in Drive My Car of Yūsuke & Misaki flicking their cigarette ashes out the sunroof is just really cool-looking

Can’t wait for his next five films

Can’t wait for his next five hour film

Can’t hardly wait.

Calling him “Oscar-nominated” is so funny. That is an image of him holding an Oscar. He won an Oscar. https://t.co/KH0LTLU3hn

— Nick Newman (@Nick_Newman) July 25, 2023

First runner up at Venice

saw Evil Does Not Exist last night. feels a lot colder than his other films, but I still really liked it. at times very slow and methodical, and the ending makes you rethink everything that came before.

Is that a new one?

Getting confused since there is an Iranian film with a title very much like that.

Evil Does Not Exist would make a perfect double-bill with Gus Van Sant's great (I think, anyway) Promised Land: "glamping" instead of fracking, and you could even map some characters from the one onto the other. Throw in Bill Forsyth's Local Hero, too, and have a small festival.

I was completely baffled by the ending, so I was glad that googling the title immediately auto-filled "...ending explained"--good, I'm not necessarily stupid.

I think I liked it as much as Drive My Car and will see it again.

found it frustrating, dialogue in particular was so utilitarian compared to his best work (happy hour/asako/tales…): the community presentation is the best example of it. everyone comes in at the right time, each argument settinhg up the next, everyone playing to their fairly one note character outline. the stongest moments here are when he leaves the camera to capture the world and people without any concern for intent. the ending is not earned. i hope to see ‘gift’ the originally intended dialogue free version and see how it compares.

I haven't seen those other films, just Drive My Car, so that wasn't an issue for me. I really liked the long conversation in the car as the two agents made their way to Takumi's house. Also the town meeting, which again was right out of Promised Land. As for the ending, I'd agree--if that's what you're saying--that killing kids in a film is an easy shortcut for drawing out an emotional response. It works on me (animals, too): when they set out to look for her, all I could think was "Please don't tell me you're going to kill her." I thought the music for that last few minutes was great, though, and puzzlement aside, it still worked for me.

I take it that "glamping" is a real thing? Never heard of it before last night.

Yep. I did it twice last year. South Florida has a large gay campground south of Clewiston.

The end of 'Evil..' looked like the budget ran out but it was so good till then

Display name I'll sell to the highest bidder: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, glamping politely.

loved EDNE. would agree that the dialogue wasn't as strong as in the other stuff (especially happy hour) but... it's also doing something quite different, right? I enjoyed it immensely as "hammaguchi does a western" or something like that. the ending worked for me along those lines too.

I saw gift first tho, so that probably colored things for me.

Intriguing, the western idea--I can see that. I definitely liked it better than "First Cow" or "Meek's Cutoff."

The ending was plausible.

I didn't get the ending but enjoyed not getting it, didn't leave frustrated.

otm

I didn't notice the dialogue lacked flair either. This was a different viewing experience from Wheel... and Drive My Car and as satisfying.

So at Big Ears yesterday I saw Eiko Ishibashi doing her live score to Hamaguchi's The Gift — which is basically an abbreviated silent-film treatment of Evil Does Not Exist. It was good! I hadn't realized that that's how the movie originally started, and as they went along Hamaguchi decided to double up and also make it a full feature film with dialogue etc. It was pretty fascinating to watch after having seen the full film. Complementary experiences, they tell the same story with the same characters and much of the same footage, but it was cool to have the plot and ideas conveyed with titles and especially the score.