Set in a near-future Tokyo where the looming threat of a catastrophic earthquake permeates daily life, HAPPYEND follows two best friends, Yuta (Kurihara) and Kou (Hidaka), who are about to graduate high school and, likely, head in different directions in their lives. As a kiss off to their pompous principal, the pair execute an elaborate prank on him and unwittingly become the catalyst for a high-tech student tracking and surveillance tool to be deployed. As their wider group of friends try to adjust to the dystopian new system—and learn how to circumvent it—Yuta and Kou must come to terms with their uncertain futures.

Written and directed with a striking attention to emotional detail by Neo Sora (Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus), HAPPYEND is a coming-of-age story with a hint of cyberpunk that is definitively of the moment. With a skill that belies this is his first narrative feature, Sora keeps the film focused on its characters and their very local plight while evoking global issues of surveillance and societal control. [NH]