Customer Reviews

Happy Now

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I stumbled upon this little film and despite my admiration for several of the actors in it, I didn't expect it to be that good because it has never had an official release in the US or UK (where it was made) but I was pleastantly surprised.

If you watch it as a thriller it's not good. I think it's meant to be watched as a black comedy. The gallows humor was approprate and made me laugh quite a bit. Definately not for all tastes and I don't think it would have been a hit if it were release but it might develop a cult following.

Emmy Rossum (The Phantom of the Opera, The Day After Tomorrow) stars. She actually plays two parts, uses a Welsh accent in one of them, wears some very silly costumes, and gives a pretty good performance. The story starts in 1988 in Pen-y-wig, Wales where Jenny Thomas (Emmy) wins a local beauty pagent. Her father lets her drive home, but she runs out of gas. She doesn't make it home. A homeless man (Om Puri) is convicted of her murder, but the body is never found. 14 years later, Tina Trent, a Pen-y-wig local, moves back to town after a long absence. She brings with her, her teenage daughter Nicki (also Emmy) who bears a striking resemblence to Jenny. Nicki's presence in town manages to stir up trouble, especailly with the people who thought that they'd gotten away with Jenny's death over a decade before. Meanwhile the man sent to prison for the murder has just been paroled and has returned to town. As a new police cheif (Ioan Gruffud) investigates the crime he uncovers a lot going on beneath the tranquil surface of Pen-y-wig.

The plot sounds like a standard thriller. It's not, due to it's humor. It's the kind of movie where a girl dies in just about the silliest way imaginable, where people pack their bags, make dramatic exits and wait at the bus stop for a while before realizing they're not at a bus stop, just a random bench, and where a killer disposing of a body complains about the car dealership not having the color car he wanted. It's dark humor but it's definately funny if you're in the right kind of morbid mood for it.

I picked this gem of a film up because it has 2 of my favorite actors in it (Ioan Gruffudd and Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Although JRM's role is small (but quite pivotal), Ioan really shines as Max, the sergeant of the local police station of Pen-y-Wig, Wales, UK.

Emmy Rossum stars also as Jenny/Nicki-Jenny having been murdered in 1988, and fourteen years later, Nicki moving from Alaska to Pen-y-Wig with her mother, Tina Trent. Emmy gives a lovely, nuanced performance (much stronger than her efforts in POSEIDON and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW) and has a fantastic "Welsh" accent as Jenny. Her range of emotions as Nicki is palpable on screen.

Make sure you have a region free DVD player (it's PAL, region 2) in order to view this absurdist tragedy. A fine foreign film; 4.5 stars.