Japan is the official hot destination for travel post-pandemic. Almost everyone knows someone who is planning a vacation there, or just came back from one. But hidden under the surface, the imperial heart of Japan still beats through the scars of a colonial past.

Happyend

NR, 113 minutes; in Japanese with English subtitles

Playing Sept. 26-30 at the Belcourt

Happyend follows a group of Japanese high schoolers in the near future who, after pranking the principal, are faced with the implementation of a security system that monitors them on a behavioral point-based system. The event causes a rift in a student friend group when Kou (Yukito Hidaka) is fed up with the discrimination he receives as a Zainichi Korean, and Yuta (Hayato Kurihara) just wants to focus on music.

“The main event t

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