Acropolis welcomes Ryûsuke Hamaguchi for a double bill of the Japanese director's latest feature, All of a Sudden, and one of its key inspirations, John Cassavetes's 1977 classic Opening Night. Tonight's event will also include an interactive conversation with Hamaguchi featuring clips from his movies in which the director will discuss his unique approach to working with actors. Co-presented by the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities.
About the program:
Opening Night (Dir. John Cassavetes, 1977, 144 min) | 5:00pm
While in the midst of rehearsals for her latest play, Broadway actor Myrtle Gordon (Gena Rowlands) witnesses the accidental death of an adoring young fan, after which she begins to confront the chaos of her own life. Headlined by a virtuoso performance by Rowlands, John Cassavetes’s Opening Night lays bare the drama of a performer who, at great personal cost, makes a part her own, and it functions as a metaphor for the director’s singular, wrenched-from-the-heart creative method. A Janus Films release.
Conversation with Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | 7:30pm
In this interactive talk, the Japanese director will discuss his unique approach to working with actors and present clips from his films illustrating how he incorporates multiple disciplines into his sweeping dramas.
All of a Sudden (Dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2026, 197 min) | 8:00pm
Director of a care facility for the elderly, Marie-Lou (Virginie Efiira) strives to introduce an innovative care philosophy based on listening and respecting residents’ dignity, despite resistance from part of her staff. Her encounter with Mari (Tao Okamoto), a Japanese theater director battling cancer, will profoundly reshape her path. By forming a deep, supportive friendship, the two women join forces in a shared struggle to make the impossible possible. A Neon release.
TRT: 341 min
In person: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
"Quietly astonishing... Makes you feel as if you're watching two souls converge." —Justin Chang, The New Yorker
"Radically tender and enriching... crystallizes into something that can change your understanding of what’s possible on screen and off." —Nicolas Rapold, Sight and Sound
"Achieves a kind of levitating grace, before depositing you back down in your seat again, a slightly different, slightly mended version of the person you were before." —Jessica Kiang, Variety
"[Hamaguchi] makes mundane details feel poetic, in a way that seems to slow the heartbeat... To live with, and in, All of a Sudden is to match heartbeats with these two women for a few hours." —Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine
"[In All of a Sudden,] the whole wide world feels at stake, but the specific realities of elderly care have seldom, if ever, been addressed this clear-sightedly, unbleakly, and – the key word – caringly." —Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
(Available to download after screening date)