Review: "Terribly Happy"
I would venture to say it was the Year of the Zombie at the 2009 incarnation of Fantastic Fest. I saw three zombie-themed movies myself, and that did not include headliners "Zombieland" and "Survival of the Dead". Besides the profusion of epics devoted to shambling brain-eaters, chop-socky actioners abounded: I saw three movies that would best be tagged to the martial arts genre, and three or four others had kung-fu escapades as essential parts of their plots. (Yes, I realize the martial arts world is rich and complex and is filled with hundreds of disciplines, schools, and styles, including judo, karate, capoeira, muay thai, taekwondo, savate, and so on, but I use kung-fu here as a shorthand. Primarily because while my nerdness is strong, I don't want to take it to the level of the martial arts geek who can knowledgeably discourse on assorted open-hand versus closed-fist attack modes, the virtues of knee strikes versus grappling, and whether Jackie Chan could defeat Jet Li.) (Besides, personally my martial arts hero is longtime Captain America foe Batroc the Leaper.)
Perhaps because so many movies were swimming in the same pools, as it were, I found that the ones that most impressed me were those that offered up something that was new to me, or that zigged when I zagged and then circled around to sucker-punch me in the kidneys (with a closed-fist blow, after which they swept my legs). And so it is that the Danish "Terribly Happy" has lodged itself in my brain for several days now.
Comparisons to various Coen Brothers films, and particularly "Fargo", have been made, and these are apt (although the actual Coen Brothers movie shown at the Fest this year, "A Serious Man", was godawfully bad and infuriating in its interminable plotlessness). You have an isolated small town with its own rules and ways, suspicious of and hostile to outsiders. You have a bunch of oddball locals and strange incidents that are barely hinted at. And you have a flawed POV character (I certainly wouldn't say "hero" or even "protagonist") who has his own secrets and who isn't entirely on the side of law and order, despite being a police officer. Because in this case, he's a disgraced cop sent to be the one-man police force in a backwoods town in the middle of nowhere, serving penance and laying low until he might get called back to the big leagues in Copenhagen. He quickly finds that the town doesn't really want him and that it has its own code of behavior and ways of enforcement, the most extreme of which is to escort the miscreant on a one-way walk to the local bog.
The pace is measured and deliberate without being somnambulent, and the isolation of the wide-open muddy wastes and brooding skies is very well-captured. Characterization is subtle and developed through suggestion and nuance rather than delivered through broad strokes hammered over the viewer's head. Almost no one is what they seem at first glance, nor is anyone "good" or "bad". They simply just are. And this is true of the lead character as well, especially in the conclusion of the second act, when there is a most unexpected development that changes up the whole thrust of the story.
This twist is nicely and naturally delivered, and the ensuing consequences are intriguingly played out. It all leads up to a conclusion that mainstream Hollywood would be loath to embrace, which just makes this movie all the better in my estimation.
After last year's "The Substitute" and "Just Another Love Story", I've got to say that the Danes are developing a nice sideline in oddball little movies. True, they lack zombies and have few martial arts duels-to-the-death, but they have a lasting and offbeat charm, and for that have been among the better offerings over the last couple of years. I look forward to the 2010 Fest to see if Denmark can keep up this winning streak.
Perhaps because so many movies were swimming in the same pools, as it were, I found that the ones that most impressed me were those that offered up something that was new to me, or that zigged when I zagged and then circled around to sucker-punch me in the kidneys (with a closed-fist blow, after which they swept my legs). And so it is that the Danish "Terribly Happy" has lodged itself in my brain for several days now.
Comparisons to various Coen Brothers films, and particularly "Fargo", have been made, and these are apt (although the actual Coen Brothers movie shown at the Fest this year, "A Serious Man", was godawfully bad and infuriating in its interminable plotlessness). You have an isolated small town with its own rules and ways, suspicious of and hostile to outsiders. You have a bunch of oddball locals and strange incidents that are barely hinted at. And you have a flawed POV character (I certainly wouldn't say "hero" or even "protagonist") who has his own secrets and who isn't entirely on the side of law and order, despite being a police officer. Because in this case, he's a disgraced cop sent to be the one-man police force in a backwoods town in the middle of nowhere, serving penance and laying low until he might get called back to the big leagues in Copenhagen. He quickly finds that the town doesn't really want him and that it has its own code of behavior and ways of enforcement, the most extreme of which is to escort the miscreant on a one-way walk to the local bog.
The pace is measured and deliberate without being somnambulent, and the isolation of the wide-open muddy wastes and brooding skies is very well-captured. Characterization is subtle and developed through suggestion and nuance rather than delivered through broad strokes hammered over the viewer's head. Almost no one is what they seem at first glance, nor is anyone "good" or "bad". They simply just are. And this is true of the lead character as well, especially in the conclusion of the second act, when there is a most unexpected development that changes up the whole thrust of the story.
This twist is nicely and naturally delivered, and the ensuing consequences are intriguingly played out. It all leads up to a conclusion that mainstream Hollywood would be loath to embrace, which just makes this movie all the better in my estimation.
After last year's "The Substitute" and "Just Another Love Story", I've got to say that the Danes are developing a nice sideline in oddball little movies. True, they lack zombies and have few martial arts duels-to-the-death, but they have a lasting and offbeat charm, and for that have been among the better offerings over the last couple of years. I look forward to the 2010 Fest to see if Denmark can keep up this winning streak.
posted by Purukivel at 6:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home