A rich contextual tapestry, Happy Hour is a transcendent work of art, one thats brazen scope is complimented perfectly by its intricate understandings of the complexities of the human experience. The material and abstract are explored with honesty and justifiable complexity, with Ryusuke Hamaguchi bringing the ontological to the foreground of his text, allowing it to breath and present itself, while the subtexts manifests and reinforces the film's themes over this longitudinal study of four female friends. A rapturous critique of the patriarchal organizational structure of society, Happy Hour evokes how the emotive, sensual nature of the body often becomes subjugated by the mind under such social arrangements. For the feminine form these forces are viewed as antagonistic instead of harmonious due to threat they pose to the status quo, breeding internal conflict from within, as each woman restricts and compartmentalizes their own internal strife due to their inability to express themselves. The vast entanglements of any meaningful social formation are astutely observed, with the film fully acknowledging the complexities of social relationships while simultaneously rejecting the simplistic duality between egoism and altruism. The film's critique of the patriarchal system is sharper than most, exhibiting the downstream nature of any socially repressive system where positive liberty and negative liberty oscillate and conflict across various social stratas, with many of the men in this case being destructive implicitly, complicit with the system that suppresses and restricts those whom they love - a wonderfully pointed, large scale social critique. The visual edifice employed by Hamaguchi is masterful, being assertive and assured in its aesthetic decisions in a way that wholly encapsulates the labyrinths which exist in consciousness, whether they are platonic or actionable. Every scene is rhythmic and astutely realized, every composition designed to evoke the underlying emotional subtext of these characters. In a sense, Happy Hour is about the utter importance of communication on an individualistic level, as it effectively skewers the crude dichotomy between right and wrong, recognizing that this notion itself is an abstraction, often used more as a device to restrain personal autonomy, expression, and desire. At this point, I have no qualms with acknowledging that Ryusuke Hamaguchi is one of the very best filmmakers in the world working today, everything about Happy Hour is masterful
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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