All the Long Nights

This hopeful and radiant ode to friendship by Shô Miyake, one of Japan’s most exciting new filmmakers, provides a fitting finale to LIFF 2024. The film follows Misa (Mone Kamishiraishi), a young woman with debilitating PMS that manifests in volatile outbursts. When she leaves her corporate job for a gentler workplace, a company making scientific toys, she encounters Takatoshi (Hokuto Matsumura), a co-worker struggling with panic disorder. Through mutual support and kindness, the two discover a world outside themselves, and a shared project on a portable planetarium culminates in a tender moment of stargazing. With luminous cinematography shot on 16mm, Miyake has crafted a poetic work of great beauty.