Film Forum

5:45 ONLY

In this evocative triptych — three taut stories set in Tokyo about the mysteries and depths of women’s desires — coincidence seems as natural as the passing of time, and both are depicted in equal measure as whimsical and sharp: A fashion model discovers her friend is dating the ex who may have been her true love; a college student attempts to avenge humiliation by enlisting his lover to lure his sadistic professor into a “Me Too” situation; two middle-aged women make a poignant, enigmatic connection. Filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi homes in on deceptively simple moments, finely sketched to reveal the strangeness of true intimacy — unexpected, palpable, fleeting. “Seen individually, these moments feel like strange quirks of the universe, but the way they ripple across Hamaguchi’s three stories suggests nothing less than the fullness of life pushing through.” – IndieWire

2021     120 MINS.     JAPAN     FILM MOVEMENT     IN JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

We are also premiering Hamaguchi’s DRIVE MY CAR on Wednesday, November 24.

Reviews

“Critic’s Pick. The geometry of desire is elegantly plotted… a wistful, moving, outwardly unassuming movie… (by) one of the more intriguing filmmakers to emerge in the last decade…”
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Read the full review.

“Full of understated, melancholy poetry. Hamaguchi’s intimate snapshots of middle-class angst are unusually humane by the standards of modern cinema, frequently invoking Eric Rohmer’s warmly indulgent depictions of Parisian bourgeois ennui. Emotionally authentic and consistently absorbing.”
– Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter

“Seen individually, these moments feel like strange quirks of the universe, but the way they ripple across Hamaguchi’s three stories suggests nothing less than the fullness of life pushing through.”
– David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“Ingenious, playful, sparklingly acted and thoroughly entertaining portmanteau collection. Elegant and amusing, with a delicacy of touch and real imaginative warmth. The narratives saunter along lightly but fundamentally seriously, asking us to consider how the paths we take in life – the wrong turnings, the right turnings – can be governed by the merest chance. An invigorating experience.”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK)