After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Hamaguchi worked in the commercial film industry for a few years before entering the graduate program in film at Tokyo University of the Arts where he studied with and was influenced by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.[2] His graduation film Passion was selected for the competition of the 2008 Tokyo Filmex.[3][4][5]
His next film, Happy Hour, was first developed while Hamaguchi was an artist in residence at KIITO Design and Creative Center Kobe in 2013.[8] It came out of an improvisational acting workshop he held for non-professionals, with many of the film's performers having participated in the workshop.[9] The four lead actresses shared the best actress award and the film earned a special mention for its script at the 2015 Locarno Film Festival.[10] Hamaguchi was also given a special jury award at the 2016 Japan Movie Critic Awards,[11] as well as a best newcomer award in the film division of the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Geijutsu Sensho Awards that year.[12]
In 2023, his film Evil Does Not Exist was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.[15] That same year, he released the film Gift, which uses the same footage as Evil Does Not Exist (though with a different story) and is accompanied by a live score.[16]
Influences and style
Hamaguchi has referred to himself as "purely a cinephile" and "conventionally in love with Hollywood films." He has been influenced by the works of John Cassavetes.[17]
"To some extent, all films are fiction and documentary at the same time. I have experienced to make both, and I believe there is no such thing as pure fiction or pure documentary."[19]
"The actor is acting in front of the camera. What the camera captures there is a documentary about the actors, because they're doing something which happens only once."[19]
(On the multilingual staging in Drive My Car) "In a multilingual staging, of course, they're not understanding the meaning of the words. Instead, the body language and the voice tones is what becomes more important to convey those feelings or the emotional state of the respective actors. It becomes easier to focus and react. That's a nice way I look at it to get a more simple and strong performance."[20]
(On the ending of Drive My Car) "Once I talked with a big fan of Drive My Car who said that it really would have been perfect without that ending. (Laugh) Well, I think maybe the reason I ended that way is to make it a bit imperfect." "In terms of the final staging of the play in applause, if I had ended the movie at that point, presumably the audience would want to do a round of applause, and it would almost be like closing of a full circle. But for me that didn't really feel like a satisfying ending. I wanted to do something a bit more disruptive, to leave some sort of break."[20]
(On the ending of Drive My Car) "I have no any plans of making a sequel, but I was just sort of playing around with things at the end there. One other thing I'd like to say is that the title itself also might give a clue to how you can interpret the ending."[20]
Political views
In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Hamaguchi signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.[21][22][23]
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