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Kohei Igarashi’s quiet 2024 film ‘Super Happy Forever’ immediately intrigued me with its ironic title, calling to mind anything but sorrow. Set along the Japanese coast in a sleepy seaside town, the movie follows a man named Sano who returns to where he first fell deeply in love five years prior. But his wife Nagi has now passed away, making this journey bittersweet as Sano struggles with grief.

Flashing between the present and Sano’s romantic past, Igarashi crafts a gentle story about profound loss and the memories that shape our lives. With its minimalist style that feels handcrafted, this movie observes humanity in all its complexities.

The director peers into the profound yet often silent processing of emotional wounds. And he finds profound beauty in fleeting moments between people that can change our perspectives forever.

This film questions if happiness is something we believe we’re owed or must seek within.

Despite a year that does not seem to be going that well for Korean cinema, Biff once more cemented its place as the biggest film festival in Asia, with the focus on films from the Asean countries, Japan and the Chinese speaking world compensating to the fullest. That the opening film (Uprising) started streaming on Netflix a bit after premiering in the festival was met with various reactions, but the truth is that streaming is a reality and festivals, just like all other aspects of movie and TV production should eventually adapt to the new reality, as the section about dramas in Biff also highlights. Among the standouts of the program is definitely “Ma – A Cry of Silence” “Pierce” and “Village Rockstars”, in a season that featured many more accomplished films than the previous years, but no masterpiece.

Here is our coverage of the festival (you can check the full...

A post-metal band plays at a screening of a vintage Viking saga. Björk shows up to check out the latest films by Pedro Almodovar and Athina Rachel Tsingari. Filmmakers relax in warm mineral-laden waters at the ocean’s edge. Industry members are invited to the President of Iceland’s house to chat about the state of the film business. It’s a typical day at the Reykjavik International Film Festival.

But Iceland isn’t just hot springs and Vikings — well-situated between Europe and North America, the country is booming as a shooting destination. Riff provides a key place for filmmakers to network and learn more about the production scene in the small country with the big production incentives.

“The festival is a very good place for people to meet,” says Riff director Hrönn Marinósdóttir. “The Icelandic industry is really growing. I think we have a new generation of really talented...

The Chicago International Film Festival is gearing up for its 60th edition with an exciting lineup of global cinema, running from October 16 to 27, 2024. This year’s competition slate promises a wide array of international storytelling, with films spanning from Azerbaijan to Brazil, Japan to Tunisia, all competing for the festival’s prestigious Gold Hugo awards. The films are set to debut across multiple categories: International Feature, International Documentary, and New Directors, along with entries for the OutLook and Shorts competitions.

A remarkable 30 feature films are making their North American or U.S. premieres, with three world premieres adding to the anticipation. Some filmmakers are no strangers to Chicago, returning to the festival after prior successes, like Péter Kerekes, whose film 107 Mothers earned him the Silver Hugo for Best Director in 2020, and documentary powerhouse Joshua Oppenheimer.

Among the festival’s top-tier International Feature Competition, several standout titles have already made waves at Cannes,...

In this review, we explore Kohei Igarashi‘s contemplative and deeply personal film, Super Happy Forever. Inspired by a real-life tragedy, the film touches on themes of loss, grief, and the passage of time. Igarashi channels his own emotions following the sudden death of a high school friend into a story co-written with Koichi Kubodera. The film opened at the Venice Film Festival and continues its international circuit, including Busan.

Super Happy Forever follows Sano (played by Hiroki Sano), who, alongside his best friend Miyata (Yoshinori Miyata), returns to a coastal resort in an attempt to relive the past and recover a lost red cap, which he believes holds the key to reversing time. This resort is where Sano fell in love with his late wife, Nagi (Nairu Yamamoto), who tragically passed away five years ago.

Will the film’s introspective exploration of grief and its unique artistic approach draw you in,...

Four in-development films from young Japanese producers and directors — including a project produced by Hirokazu Kore-eda — are being showcased at Acfm by Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization (Vipo) and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Meti).

That Drive will be the feature directorial debut of Miyoh Yamaura, who works as an assistant to Palme d’Or-winner Kore-eda, and whose short Moles played at the Asia International Youth Film Festival in 2019. The film, based on a real incident from Yamaura’s life, centres on a fatal car accident and asks “how an offender can ever atone for the past,...

People and places can leave an impression on us. In absence of one thing, we might find ourselves returning to the other for traces. Sano (Hiroki Sano) sits in his minimally adorned hotel room, staring blankly towards the light from the window. He's come with his friend Miyata to a seaside resort in Izu, where they first met Sano’s late wife, Nagi (Nairu Yamamoto), five years ago. Some things have changed, some things refuse to. What follows is a structurally ingenious, profoundly romantic film, a crisp sea breeze ode to the moments that we share and the sentimental significance that they carry in our lives. Super Happy Forever is a special film, to my mind the most exciting feature out of Japan so far this...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prix winner All We Imagine As Light and Mohammad Rasoulof’s special prize recipient The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, along with Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Venice selection Harvest are among the international competition selections at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival running October 16-27.

A packed line-up also brings Joshua Oppenheimer’s Telluride entry The End to the International Feature Competition, along with the North American premiere of The Quiet Son from Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, which debuted on the Lido.

There are world premieres for Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges’s Suçuarana...

Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prix winner All We Imagine Is Light and Mohammad Rasoulof’s special prize recipient The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, along with Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Venice selection Harvest are among the international competition selections at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival running October 16-27.

A packed line-up also brings Joshua Oppenheimer’s Telluride entry The End to the International Feature Competition, along with the North American premiere of The Quiet Son from Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, which debuted on the Lido.

There are world premieres for Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges’s Suçuarana...