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By Sean Barry

With the release of his latest film, “Drive My Car,” filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi continues to solidify himself as one of Japan’s finest filmmakers working today. Hamaguchi’s movies are stories about people experiencing everyday struggles with a raw realism that is not often captured in Japanese cinema as often as once was. Furthermore, the acclaimed artist is also known for pictures with long runtimes. At first glance, this may seem like a detriment, yet every minute of his work is generally utilized to the fullest potential. This is perfectly demonstrated in his intimate five-hour epic “Happy Hour.”

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Development for the movie began in 2013 during his time as an artist-in-residence at the creative arts center Kiito Design and Creative Center Kobe, where he hosted many theater workshops. He would get the project rolling when he held an improvisational acting workshop. Many of...

European A-list festivals have rolled their red carpets multiple times for Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who started conquering the Old Continent with his graduation film “Passion” in the official selection of San Sebastian in 2008. Three years later, he was in the official selection of Locarno with “Sound of Waves”, and in 2015 – in Locarno again – his film “Happy Hour” won the awards for Best Actress and Special Mention for Script. Cannes welcomed him in the official competition in 2018 with “Asako I & II”, and now he’s in the main competition of Berlinale with his omnibus “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy”, consisting of three short films dealing with the theme of coincidence and imagination.

We had the opportunity to talk to the director about his ideas and inspirations in a generous one-on-one interview, due to this year’s special circumstances – done over a Zoom call.

”Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” is a film...

The international competition jury of the 68th Locarno Film Festival—Udo Kier, Nadav Lapid, Daniela Michel, Moon So-ri and Jerry Schatzberg—has awarded the Golden Leopard to Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then. The Special Jury Prize goes to Avishai Sivan's Tikkun. Best Direction: Andrzej Zulawski for Cosmos. Best Actress; Sachie Tanaka, Hazuki Kikuchi, Maiko Mihara and Rira Kawamura for their performances in Ryusuke Yamaguchi's Happy Hour, which, for Notebook editor Daniel Kasman, "emerged at the end of the festival as one of its best films." We've got the full list of all the award-winners. » - David Hudson...

The international competition jury of the 68th Locarno Film Festival—Udo Kier, Nadav Lapid, Daniela Michel, Moon So-ri and Jerry Schatzberg—has awarded the Golden Leopard to Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then. The Special Jury Prize goes to Avishai Sivan's Tikkun. Best Direction: Andrzej Zulawski for Cosmos. Best Actress; Sachie Tanaka, Hazuki Kikuchi, Maiko Mihara and Rira Kawamura for their performances in Ryusuke Yamaguchi's Happy Hour, which, for Notebook editor Daniel Kasman, "emerged at the end of the festival as one of its best films." We've got the full list of all the award-winners. » - David Hudson...