All the Long Nights 
夜明けのすべて 「Yoake no Subete」
Release Date: February 09th, 2024
Duration: 119 mins.
Director: Sho Miyake
Writer: Sho Miyake, Kiyoto Wada (Screenplay), Maiko Seo (Original Novel),
Starring: Mone Kamishiraishi, Hokuto Matsumura, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Ken Mitsuishi, Ryo, Haruka Imou, Sawako Fujima,
Website Twitter: @yoakenosubete IMDB
Following a foray into the fantastical with the Netflix haunted-house horror series Ju-on: Origins, Sho Miyake returned to the sort of intimate and sensitive story of normal people similar to his breakout drama And Your Bird Can Sing (2018) with the critically acclaimed boxing drama Small, Slow but Steady (2022). He continues to describe the lives of normal people again with All the Long Nights, which is based on the same-named novel by Maiko Seo.
Combining workplace drama with socially conscious character study, the film looks at the pains of struggling to fit in due to problems outside of a person’s control. Here, the problems are PMS and panic disorder. In the past these conditions were dismissed by some in society or seen as a joke – for example, many movies use them to depict women turning mean and men getting all cowardly and discombobulated. All the Long Nights, however, takes these conditions seriously and, without didacticism or sentimentality but with a touch of comedy, it shows how people learn to live with them.
We observe this through Misa Fujisawa (Mone Kamishiraishi) and Takatoshi Yamazoe (Hokuto Matsumura). Misa experiences severe bouts of PMS and is unable to control her irritability, thus we see her suffering crippling pain, exploding with anger at a work colleagues, and taking naps at inopportune moments. As an act of apology to those on the receiving end of her ire, she buys snacks. Takatoshi, on the other hand, is an aloof fellow who rejects Misa’s treats and seems unmotivated at work but that’s because he suffers from panic disorder and has become withdrawn. He avoids travelling far and ducks out from meeting with people lest he feels overwhelmed and, thus, falls into a panic.
The backstories for the two see their conditions causing them both to fall off the corporate ladder and land in the homely environs of Kurita Science Corporation, a small-scale suburban operation managed mostly by middle-aged people that makes planetariums, microscopes, and other science-related educational items.
Our lead characters, the youngest in the business, are paired off when they are both asked to set up a presentation and while these two people with polar-opposite conditions clash in wryly funny scenes due to her outbursts and his ostensibly insensitive nature, Miyake takes the slow but steady approach to show how they come to help each other cope. In doing this, he takes advantage of a rich cast of supporting characters to show the healing power of community while the astronomical backdrop and the suburban setting offer exquisite visual metaphors for their journey.
The process of betterment is a gradual, organic, marked by the progress of their project and signs of their warming relationship as each person learns what ails the other and they guide each other away from negativity. It begins with Misa saying, “Let’s take it easy and cope with our problems,” then offering to help Takatoshi with a haircut while he responds in kind by diverting her ire on bad days with gifts and distractions. Eventually, they talk more openly.
Another film might lazily throw in a romance for this natural pair or might have some big dramatic act to seal their workplace friendship, but All the Long Nights resists that by keeping them independent with their own inner and outer lives that they each get into a healthier alignment that makes sense. Along the way, we see small everyday actions build up to a bigger whole and it feels naturally fostered by the gentleness and understanding of their work colleagues, friends, and family whose acts of kindness and thoughtful behaviour. make the workplace a safe space
Some of these characters are explored and are revealed as struggling with bereavement and while the ghosts of lost loved ones may provide motivations for mutual support, this doesn’t feel like a cynical inclusion, rather, it reminds the audience that it could be PMS and panic attacks or anxiety or grief, we all suffer in silence with something. This inclusiveness and understanding gives the movie a tremendous emotional resonance with a wider audience, especially as it presents an ideal on how to live with thoughtfulness for others.
The film visually fosters this sense of inclusiveness by Miyake’s framing of scenes and colour schemes. A shot often has Misa and Takatoshi in the centre of frame surrounded by co-workers and friends who are ever ready to show support or offer a kind word. A co-worker clutching a shoulder, an old friend giving someone’s back a rub or handing over a snack. The warmth of human touch is conveyed. The autumnal colours of red and golden brown leaves gives the film a gentleness, a warm glows before cold nights that the characters walk out into, sometimes alone but often in the company of others the further along the film goes. The warmth builds in the way that people gather together, interact, take the time to connect, and lingers in that gorgeous environment.
The astronomical setting finds its culmination in an ending that brings tears to the eyes as the character’s journey is underlined by Misa’s narration about stars in the night sky for the presentation that she and Takitoshi had been working on throughout the film. The subtext to the presentation about the night is their struggle fit in, the alienation and isolation and anxiety felt. The tough times might be dark but the world keeps turning and the sun will shine again. Until then, look closely and you can see that the dark sky is full of light. For Misa and Takatoshi, and anyone in a bad place, in all the long nights they need only look to the people who orbit them, all of whom have their own darkness, but can also act as stars whose light of kindness offers guidance and warmth to get them past the worst moments and onto the next day. It is a beautiful and powerful message, one that quietly induces tears due to its rich display of human warmth.
All the Long Nights played at Nippon Connection 2024 on June 02nd. It will next be screened at Japan Cuts on July 16th. Japan Cuts runs from July 10th—21st, 2024 and features a wealth of classics, documentaries and fiction features and shorts. Here’s a preview of the titles playing.