¡®Japanese movies are too long¡± is a comment I¡¯ve heard many times over the years. In fact, one Asian film reviewer of my acquaintance writes ¡°(J-film title) could be cut by (number of minutes)¡± so often that he¡¯s probably made it into a keyboard shortcut.
Japanese directors have also turned in some excellent long films, however, from Akira Kurosawa¡¯s ¡°Shichinin no Samurai¡± (¡°Seven Samurai,¡± 207 minutes) to Sion Sono¡¯s ¡°Ai no Mukidashi¡± (¡°Love Exposure,¡± 237 minutes). Even so, I quailed when I saw the running time of ¡°Happy Hour,¡± Ryusuke Hamaguchi¡¯s female friendship drama: 317 minutes. That is a long sit by any standard.
But its four female leads, unknowns all, received a collective best actress prize at this year¡¯s Locarno International Film Festival, while the script by Hamaguchi and his two co-writers was given a special mention. The film has since been invited to festivals in Vienna, London and San Diego. Deservedly so: ¡°Happy Hour¡± engages rather than exhausts with its length and complexity.
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