Review | Happyend movie review: Japanese high school under dystopian surveillance in chilling drama
The debut feature from Japanese-American director Neo Sora, Happyend is a deft cocktail of teen angst and invasive technology
4/5 stars
An inner-city high school becomes the testing ground for an intrusive new security system in Happyend, the debut feature from Japanese-American filmmaker Neo Sora.
Through the prism of this institution, the film observes the strengthening grip of an authoritarian regime as anxiety builds over an impending earthquake and widespread malaise among the adolescent community is quashed with an iron fist.
Students Yuta (Hayato Kurihara) and Kou (Yukito Hidaka) are best friends and founders of the school music club. When caught sneaking into a nightclub, Yuta is let off with a slapped wrist, but as Kou is Korean, the police immediately give him grief, even questioning the legitimacy of his Japanese residency.
When the boys pull an elaborate prank on their corrupt principal (Shiro Sano), upending his luxury sports car in the school courtyard, the faculty fights back by installing state-of-the-art surveillance cameras around campus.
For Kou, this is the final straw. Sick of being incessantly discriminated against, he falls in with Fumi (Kilala Inori), a girl with ties to an activist group, and over time, he steadily becomes radicalised.
