UW Cinematheque | Passion (2008)

The second feature from the director of Drive My Car, Passion was Hamaguchi’s thesis project at Tokyo University of the Arts, and it lays the thematic foundations for what would become his internationally renowned body of work. Unfolding over a few hours, the story begins with the announcement of a young couple’s engagement, leading to a long night where they separately reckon with past relationships. Infused with emotional clarity and honesty, “Hamaguchi’s script offers florid arias of confrontation and self-revelation; in his striking repertoire of visual compositions, including flurries of urgent closeups and thrillingly panoramic long takes, the poised and assertive actors seem to fill not just the screen but the city itself with his prose” (Richard Brody, The New Yorker).