Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
Happy Hour
A group of thirty-something women find their friendship tested by their differing attitudes to work, love and sex in the city of Kobe, Japan.
Drama 2015 318 mins Not rated
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Overview
A group of thirty-something women find their friendship tested by their differing attitudes to work, love and sex, in this astounding drama of extensive duration (five hours!). Four friends; a nurse, curator, cafe worker and housewife move through the entanglements of their work and romantic lives attempting to find some balance. The women talk frankly, often to the point of social humiliation, and the unfolding of various infidelities feels painfully true, as does the incomprehension of the men who love them.
Slowly building a multilayered portrait that deepens over time and will delight fans of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, with some drunken confessionals that would make Hong Sangsoo blush, this urban drama also has much to offer followers of Lena Dunham. A gut-wrenchingly honest film about female desire - smart, sometimes sad, and, by turns, pretty damn sexy.
Related
Drama
No Place Like Home: Redux No Place Like Home: Redux
Drama 2019 89 mins Director: Perry Henzell
Perry Henzell’s long-lost second feature is a love letter to Jamaica, as we follow a filmmaker searching the island for a lost actor.
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Drama 1945 87 mins Director: Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson’s tale of sexual intrigue, rivalry and revenge among Parisian socialites, with glittering dialogue by Cocteau.
Dogman Dogman
Drama 2018 103 mins Director: Matteo Garrone
Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone presents a masterful tale of twisted friendship, not-so-petty crime and revenge.
The Trial of Joan of Arc The Trial of Joan of Arc
Historical drama 1962 64 mins Director: Robert Bresson
The legendary story of Joan of Arc is powerfully retold in Robert Bresson’s minimalist masterpiece.
Meek's Cutoff Meek's Cutoff
Drama 2010 103 mins Director: Kelly Reichardt
Kelly Reichardt's absorbing and beautifully composed western, set on the Oregon trail in the 1840s.
Story of a Love Affair Story of a Love Affair
Drama 1950 103 mins Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni's debut feature is a noirish thriller following a jealous industrialist who hires a private eye to investigate his wife.
Japan 2021
Seven Samurai Seven Samurai
Drama 1954 207 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.
Good Morning Good Morning
Comedy 1959 94 mins Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu's cheerful comedy about the silliness of everyday chatter
I Was Born, But... I Was Born, But...
Comedy 1932 87 mins Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Ozu's silent masterpiece follows two brothers as they try to outwit the local bully.
Kwaidan Kwaidan
Horror 1964 183 mins Director: Masaki Kobayashi
This stunningly beautiful anthology of Japanese ghost stories is one of the most meticulously crafted supernatural films ever made.
House [Hausu] House [Hausu]
Horror 1977 88 mins Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi
An unforgettable mixture of bubblegum teen melodrama and grisly phantasmagoria, Obayashi’s deranged fairy tale House is one of Japanese cinema’s wildest supernatural ventures and a truly startling debut feature.
Asako I & II Asako I & II
Drama 2018 120 mins Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Do we ever really get over our first love? Asako is about to find out, in this quirky romantic drama from Academy Award Nominee Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Asako I & II Asako I & II
Drama 2018 120 mins Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Do we ever really get over our first love? Asako is about to find out, in this quirky romantic drama from Academy Award Nominee Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
New
Saint Jack Saint Jack
Melodrama 1979 115 mins Director: Peter Bogdanovich
An American pimp spends his days hustling on the streets of 1970s Singapore, but dreams of more, in Peter Bogadanovich’s sultry screen adaptation of Paul Theroux’s novel.
No Place Like Home: Redux No Place Like Home: Redux
Drama 2019 89 mins Director: Perry Henzell
Perry Henzell’s long-lost second feature is a love letter to Jamaica, as we follow a filmmaker searching the island for a lost actor.
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Drama 1945 87 mins Director: Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson’s tale of sexual intrigue, rivalry and revenge among Parisian socialites, with glittering dialogue by Cocteau.
Dogman Dogman
Drama 2018 103 mins Director: Matteo Garrone
Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone presents a masterful tale of twisted friendship, not-so-petty crime and revenge.
The Trial of Joan of Arc The Trial of Joan of Arc
Historical drama 1962 64 mins Director: Robert Bresson
The legendary story of Joan of Arc is powerfully retold in Robert Bresson’s minimalist masterpiece.
Bull Bull
Crime 2021 88 mins Director: Paul Andrew Williams
After ten years’ absence, a vicious gangster (Neil Maskell) returns to his old stomping ground to find his son and take revenge on the gang that double-crossed him.