Review of ‘Super Happy Forever’: A Gentle and Charming Japanese Delight

“Super Happy Forever” is a delicate, subtly complex love story that unfolds in reverse over a span of five years. Set in a sleepy Japanese beach resort, the film doesn’t shuffle between timelines but instead presents the past as a bittersweet chaser to the present. At the heart of this story is Sano (Hiroki Sano), a melancholic character who believes in the time-reknitting magic of a hotel’s lost-and-found desk. However, a crucial absence from his life transforms familiar surroundings into haunting reminders of his loss. Director Kohei Igarashi, in his fourth feature, masterfully infuses the film with a stifling atmosphere of grief, preceding the audience’s understanding of its source.

As the opening film for this year’s Venice Days program, “Super Happy Forever” sees Igarashi adopt a breezier, more Rohmer-ian tone compared to his 2017 Venice Orizzonti premiere “The Night I Swam.” This Gallic-Japanese co-production, edited and co-produced by the talented French outlier Damien Manivel, will undoubtedly elevate Igarashi’s reputation on the festival circuit. However, its low-key nature may limit its theatrical distribution in many markets. Instead, the film’s youthful slant and quiet, formal simplicity may find a more suitable home on specialist streaming platforms.

“Was this the room?” asks Miyata (Yoshinori Miyata), Sano’s best friend, as they sit in a plush hotel suite overlooking Japan’s Izu peninsula coastline. The room is indeed the same one they stayed in five years ago, on a vacation that felt much lighter emotionally. Sano, now sullen and withdrawn, is intent on retracing their steps, hoping that reenacting the past might offer him a second chance. During that carefree vacation, Sano met Nagi (Nairu Yamamoto), a cheerily outgoing young woman who eventually became his wife and later tragically died in her sleep.

Sano is too engulfed in his emotions to speak much, leaving the audience to glean the shape of their relationship and the source of his deep-seated guilt through hints and subtle expressions. He admits that she wasn’t happy while he was “cowardly and selfish.” Miyata’s efforts to pull Sano into the present—with wellness seminars and potential double dates—are well-meaning but miss the mark. The title, “Super Happy Forever,” stems from the overly optimistic jargon of a workshop that Miyata attends with the new dating prospects. Viewers are also left questioning the status of Sano and Miyata’s friendship, as their attempts at chumminess seem forced.

The film’s two chapters are set in 2023 and 2018, with the global pandemic serving as an undiscussed yet palpable marker. A former favorite café is now closed, and the hotel itself is about to shut down after the summer season. This shift is perhaps also evident in the stiff interactions between Sano and Miyata, highlighting their futile attempt to chase the past in a changed world.

When the narrative shifts to 2018, there are no immediate visual or editorial cues signaling the flashback. Cinematographer Wataru Takahashi’s unfussy compositions maintain the same bright daylight throughout. However, the burdened mood of the film lightens as we meet Nagi. Gangly, camera-toting, and wearing a haphazardly chosen “Jesus Loves You” T-shirt, Nagi is the figure haunting the film. Her meet-cute with Sano on a ferry, instead of promising a romcom arc, carries a sense of inevitable fate.

The quick but not torrid attraction between Sano and Nagi suggests the perfection of first dates and their lingering afterglow, but little indicates they were destined for a foreshortened life together. The poignancy of “Super Happy Forever” lies in its unseen tensions, its negative spaces, and the ellipsis of five years where the characters assumed they had ample time to recreate their happiness. All the while, Bobby Darin’s swing standard “Beyond the Sea” plays, embodying the film’s unique blend of sorrow and nonchalance. Igarashi’s moving miniature encourages viewers not to seize the day, but to hold onto it for however long they get, and to release it when the time comes.

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