Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
*Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Yanai Initiative* Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s first bona fide masterpiece and one of the best films of the 21st century, *Happy Hour* emerged from a workshop in 2013 with non-professional actors — some of whom ended up in the final film. Proof positive of the effectiveness of Hamaguchi’s improvisational, communal working method to this point in his career, there’s never a slack moment in its runtime of just over five hours as the group of women friends at its center navigate middle-age. Indeed, as Hamaguchi elevates his recurring themes of transition and change to sociological levels he seems to sharpen the drama’s intimacy and intensity.—*Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm* DCP. Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Screenwriters: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Tadashi Nohara, Tomoyuki Takahashi. With: Sachie Tanaka, Maiko Mihara, Hazuki Kikuchi.