Happyend
Film Movement | Release Date: September 12, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesLisa KennedySep 11, 2025
Sora deftly calibrates the angst of his young characters — and the collective edginess of a nation, while nodding to the joys of the teen genre. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comCarlos AguilarSep 12, 2025
For its lucid interpretation of the current global moment without surrendering to paralyzing despair, “Happyend” settles among the most unmissable films to hit U.S. theaters this year. Read full review
85
TheWrapChase HutchinsonJan 21, 2025
Seo excavates universal truths that transcend all generational and cultural divides. The many geographical, social and emotional pains these young people are grappling with are ones everyone faces down. As they find ways to fight this, coming to realize all the many ways they may not be so easily able to, there is something both genuinely heartfelt yet quietly haunting about it. Read full review
81
Paste MagazineJim VorelSep 10, 2025
Heartfelt, gently humorous and possessing a keen understanding of the passage from juvenile to adult thinking, it’s a thoughtful and solemnly beautiful feature debut. Read full review
80
Little White LiesAlexander MooneySep 18, 2025
Happyend strikes a remarkable balance between social satire and adolescent drama, finding points of alignment between the humour of everyday teen life and the absurdity of the bureaucracies that shape it. Read full review
80
VarietyJessica KiangSep 24, 2024
As befits the son of the late Ryuichi Sakamoto (and director of acclaimed documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus) Sora displays a subtly fervent faith in music as perhaps the ultimate expression of nascent individuality, and therefore, ever and eternally, a threat to regimes that rely on conformity and obedience. Read full review
75
The Film StageSavina PetkovaSep 24, 2024
Happyend outlines two kinds of responses to a future that seems bleaker by the hour: one is abdication, the other resistance. But the split between the two is never clear-cut and Neo Sora imbues the film with doubts, hesitation, and hope in equal measure. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 24, 2024
Capturing that transitional moment when seemingly permanent adolescent ties suddenly appear uncertain, this is a melancholy drama laced with notes of anger and disquiet, but also resilience. Read full review
60
Screen DailyJonathan RomneySep 24, 2024
This depiction of young people facing up against school and state authoritarianism lacks a certain urgency, despite its manifest intelligence and craft. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineMarshall ShafferSep 24, 2024
Sora Neo struggles to balance the immediacy of adolescent angst with the long-range outlook of using the students’ experience as a canary in the coal mine for society at large. Read full review
More From This Movie

75 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL