Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Heaven Is Still Far Away Year 2016 Country Japan Language Japanese with English subtitles Runtime 38 min. Digital Color Ever a student of film theory, Ryusuke Hamaguchi credits his graduate work with Kiyoshi Kurosawa for challenging him to grapple with the essential contradiction of cinema: using a recording device to create fiction. Understanding this paradox, Hamaguchi has said, “is what directing is all about.” Curiously there’s a touch of Hirokazu Koreeda in this short about a film student making a documentary about people who knew her deceased sister, only to discover one of her subjects, a detached young man, can speak with her ghost. In Hamaguchi’s script and framing, the nature of the afterlife becomes enmeshed with the nature of cinema.—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm DCP. Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Screenwriter: Ryusuke Hamaguchi. With: Nao Okabe, An Ogawa, Hyunri. Screening 2 of 2 I Love Thee for Good Year 2009 Country Japan Language Japanese with English subtitles Runtime 58 min. Digital Color On the morning they’re supposed to get married, Seichi (Hikohiko Sugiyama) has woken up with a hangover from his bachelor party while Eiko (Aoba Kawa) wonders if now is the time to tell him about her affair. Meanwhile, across town, her ex-boyfriend, a nude model, decides he needs to stop the whole thing. As they each make their way to the event, Hamaguchi orchestrates an extended cross-cutting sequence that builds anticipation while building a multifaceted portrait of a generation at the crossroads between holding on to their ideals and surrendering to practicality.—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Ryusuke Hamaguchi. With: Aoba Kawai. Hikohiko Sugiyama, Nao Okabe