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Ryusuke Hamaguchi

はまぐち りゅうすけ

Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1978-12-16 （Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese, English
Residence History
Iran (early childhood, ages 3–5) → Kawasaki, Kanagawa (birthplace) → Tokyo (education / residence) → Boston (Visiting researcher at Harvard University, Reischauer Institute) → Kobe (residency as invited writer / workshop leader)

Career

Occupations
film director, screenwriter
Active Years
2001-
Influenced By
John Cassavetes, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Jean Renoir, Éric Rohmer, Robert Bresson, Hou Hsiao-hsien
Influenced
Sho Miyake (one of the younger Japanese directors), Kiyohara Yui (younger director from Tokyo Geidai)
Nominations
Academy Award — Best Picture, Academy Award — Best Director, Academy Award — Best Adapted Screenplay, Academy Award — Best International Feature Film

Education

University of Tokyo
Faculty of Letters / Aesthetics and Art Studies
Country: Japan
Tokyo University of the Arts (Graduate School)
Graduate School of Film, Master's Program / Film
Degree: 修士
Year of Graduation: 2008
Country: Japan
Graduation film 'PASSION' was selected/recognized at San Sebastián and Tokyo Filmex competitions

Awards

Academy Award — Best International Feature Film
2022
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 国際長編映画賞
Organization: Academy Awards (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Result: winner
Cannes Film Festival — Screenplay Award
2021
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 脚本賞
Organization: Cannes Film Festival
Result: winner
Cannes FIPRESCI Prize (International Federation of Film Critics)
2021
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 国際映画批評家連盟賞
Organization: Cannes Film Festival (FIPRESCI)
Result: winner
Cannes Film Festival — Ecumenical Jury Prize
2021
Work: Drive My Car
Category: エキュメニカル審査員賞
Organization: Cannes Film Festival
Result: winner
Berlin International Film Festival — Silver Bear (Grand Jury Prize)
2021
Work: Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
Category: 銀熊賞（審査員グランプリ）
Organization: Berlin International Film Festival
Result: winner
Venice International Film Festival — Silver Lion (Grand Jury Prize)
2023
Work: Evil Does Not Exist
Category: 銀獅子賞（審査員大賞）
Organization: Venice International Film Festival
Result: winner
Venice FIPRESCI Prize
2023
Work: Evil Does Not Exist
Category: 国際映画批評家連盟賞
Organization: Venice Film Festival (FIPRESCI)
Result: winner
New York Film Critics Circle — Best Film
2021
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 作品賞
Organization: New York Film Critics Circle
Result: winner
Los Angeles Film Critics Association — Best Screenplay
2021
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 脚本賞
Organization: Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Result: winner
Critics' Choice Awards — Best Foreign Language Film
2021
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 外国語映画賞
Organization: Critics' Choice Association
Result: winner
BAFTA — Best Film Not in the English Language
2022
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 非英語作品賞
Organization: British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA)
Result: winner
Golden Globe — Best Motion Picture (Non-English Language)
2022
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 非英語映画賞
Organization: Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes)
Result: winner
Japan Academy Prize — Best Director / Best Screenplay / Best Picture
2022
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 最優秀監督賞・最優秀脚本賞・最優秀作品賞
Organization: Japan Academy Prize Association
Result: winner
Arts Encouragement Prize — Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Newcomer)
2016
Work: Happy Hour
Category: 新人賞
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan)
Result: winner
Art Encouragement Prize — Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
2022
Work: Drive My Car
Category: 大臣賞
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan)
Result: winner
Locarno Film Festival — Special Prize
2015
Work: Happy Hour
Category: 特別賞
Organization: Locarno Film Festival
Result: winner
Chicago International Film Festival — Silver Hugo (Jury Award)
2021
Work: Drive My Car
Category: シルバー・ヒューゴ（審査員賞）
Organization: Chicago International Film Festival
Result: winner
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres — Chevalier (France)
2023
Category: シュヴァリエ
Organization: Ministry of Culture (France) / French government
Result: recipient
Ghent International Film Festival — Joseph Plateau Honorary Award
2023
Category: 栄誉賞
Organization: Ghent International Film Festival
Result: winner
BFI London Film Festival — Best Film
2023
Work: Evil Does Not Exist
Category: 作品賞
Organization: BFI London Film Festival
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Happy Hour

2015 Drama (ensemble) 317 pages

A lengthy ensemble drama created with participants from a Kobe residency; it probes interpersonal relationships and the subtle shifts of daily life through extended, observational scenes.

interpersonal relationshipseveryday detailperformance and improvisationensemble drama
Translations
  • Happy Hour

Asako I & II (Netemo Sametemo / Asako)

2018 Drama / Psychological romance 119 pages

Adapted from a novel by Tomoka Shibasaki, this is Hamaguchi's first commercial feature exploring love, identity and the unsettling shifts of attachment.

love and obsessionidentityencounters and partings
Adaptations
  • [Novel to film adaptation] Asako I & II (based on the novel by Tomoka Shibasaki) / Ryusuke Hamaguchi (2018)
Translations
  • Asako I & II

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

2021 Anthology (short film / drama) 121 pages

A triptych of short stories that examine how chance encounters and imagination shape human relationships, rendered with subtlety and moral curiosity.

contingencyhuman relationshipsethics and humor
Translations
  • Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Drive My Car

2021 Drama (literary adaptation) 179 pages

Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, the film interweaves theatre, translation and multilingual communication to meditate on grief and recovery. It achieved wide international acclaim and numerous awards.

loss and recoverylanguage and translationintersection of theatre and realitysilence and conversation
Adaptations
  • [Short story to film] Drive My Car (short story by Haruki Murakami) / Ryusuke Hamaguchi (2021)
Translations
  • Drive My Car

Evil Does Not Exist

2023 Drama 106 pages

A contemplative drama set in rural Japan that quietly probes environmental issues, ethics and the nature of community.

environment and ethicsthe nature of communitybanality and the presence/absence of violence
Translations
  • Evil Does Not Exist

Bibliography

  • Going to See a Movie
  • A Casual Face
  • PASSION
  • THE DEPTHS
  • Intimacy
  • Happy Hour
  • Asako I & II
  • Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
  • Drive My Car
  • Evil Does Not Exist
  • GIFT

Adaptations

  • Wife of a Spy (script collaboration; directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
extended long takes and minimal compositionblending documentary material with fictiondirection emphasizing repetitive 'cold reading' rehearsals for actorsslow, attentive depiction of everyday detail
Recurring Motifs
limits of understanding through language and translationmoments of failed and successful communicationloss and recoverycontingency and imagination

Legacy

A leading contemporary Japanese filmmaker with international acclaim. With 'Drive My Car' he achieved awards at the Academy Awards and the major world festivals, gaining widespread recognition among critics and festivals worldwide. He is known for his distinctive methods — repetitive rehearsals with actors and integration of documentary practice into fiction.

Archives

  • Sendai Mediatheque — involvement in the 3/11 documentary archive

In Popular Culture

  • 'Drive My Car' ranked highly on major U.S. critics' lists and achieved an unusually long theatrical run in North America

Quotes

  • All films are to some extent fiction and to some extent documentary. From making both, I feel that no pure fiction or pure documentary truly exists.
    Source: Interviews (various) — summarized (2021)
  • Fundamentally film is constructed, but I want to see the moment when another reality emerges within it.
    Source: Interview (on 'Drive My Car') (2021)
  • Actors perform in front of the camera; that performance is also a kind of documentary of the acting. Each time it's a singular event.
    Source: Interview / lecture excerpt (2021)

Trivia

  • Spent ages 3–5 in Iran during early childhood.
  • His father is former construction bureaucrat Tatsuo Hamaguchi; his grandfather was the painter Takao Hamaguchi.
  • 'Drive My Car' is adapted from a Haruki Murakami short story and achieved broad international acclaim.
  • Attended ENBU seminar and later Tokyo University of the Arts graduate school; his graduation film 'PASSION' received festival attention.
  • Co-founded the 'Mini-Theatre Aid Fund' crowdfund to support small cinemas during the COVID-19 pandemic.