cinema history class: happiness

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 3 (Sean)
Movie: Happiness (1998)
Directed by Todd Solondz

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
Various people grapple with their misery and sexual quirks. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
Well, this was a real car wreck of a film. I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it in the sense that the movie grabbed my attention and held on to it, compelling me to watch an unfolding disaster (actually, several, since each character's life was in one way or another a disaster) and not letting me look away.

As the movie starts, we see Jon Lovitz in an uncomfortable conversation with a woman in a restaurant. I immediately figured this would be a 3 at best. But as scene after scene -- each inroducing a subplot and a character or two -- unfolded, I found myself more and more engrossed. And each time I found myself thinking "OK, this guy's OK," I'd be hit squarely by that caharacter's flaw. The whole thing was just miserable and disturbing. And, to the very end, no one gets a break.

This isn't a traditional horror movie in any sense of the word. Someone (I forget who) quipped that it represented the human horror, which I guess is as good a description as any. I think that's why it was as disturbing as it was. We can watch a Frankenstein movie or a something like that, and go away laughing because we know it can't possibly be real. But this? Hell, it feels like it could happen. And throughout, there was dark humor -- just enough to take the edge off and set us up for the next revelation.

A few random notes about Happiness:

• There wasn't really a good story -- it was more a character study. But, oh, what characters there were to study.
• The theme song was written by Eytan Mirsky. I really like his quirky songs.
• This is one of the few movies we've seen that passes the Bechdel test.
• My former boss actually sounded like he'd consider watching this, since it was made in 1998 and has a good score on IMDB. But I know better -- he's never gonna bother.

Ratings:

Me: 7
Christina: 5
Dave: 9.3
Ethan: NR
Keith: 9.5