Happyend

In a moody near-future Tokyo, the looming threat of earthquakes, political unrest, and rampant xenophobia pervades every corner of daily life. A group of endearingly rambunctious teens answers these perils by playing pranks, but two of them go too far in engineering an elaborate stunt that enrages their principal and sends shockwaves through their school. The implementation of a draconian surveillance system meant to put an end to their shenanigans unsettles the friends, exposing a growing rift between them. In his bold narrative directorial debut, Neo Sora (Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus) demonstrates a keen eye for alluring visual detail and creative odd specificities. Full of boisterous performances from an eclectic cast, and enveloped by a sublime score from virtuosic composer Lia Ouyang Rusli, Happyend yields a cinematic experience that speaks magnitudes on our precarious times. —Jordan Klein