HAPPINESS
-- 01/08/01 Tsk. Tsk. This one never showed up at the theatres here (Arkansas) because of its ludicrous NC-17 rating, but I kept it in the back of my mind and held out for the video with stupendous results.
This next effort after Solondz's fine A DOLL'S HOUSE is simply a masterpiece. I watched it alone at first and was then inspired enough to invite a mutually film savvy friend to see it with me. He was jaw-droppingly awed. This film is not for filmgoers who simply watch movies for entertainment. HAPPINESS is fine art. While it may be disturbing and depressing, that doesn't negate its fine script and story interplay. The fact that one of the film's characters is a pederast is hardly relevant as far as the film's MPAA rating is concerned. That character could have easily been rewritten into someone with a less disturbing problem. He is simply there to add strength to the film's argument.
What is the film trying to say? That, IMHO, many of us in America are so befuddled, selfish, and/or dysfunctional that we are wholly unfit to make choices about what's in our best interest, about how to attain true happiness. Instead we go seeking with our off-kelter minds what we think will make us happy only to end up ruined, because true individual happiness stems not from short-term gratification and desires, but takes long and hard thought about who and what we are. First Know Thyself. Then Fix Thyself. And if you can't objectively know yourself or seriously help yourself, ask someone or seek help.
While the pederast did seek help, his problem was such that willpower was not enough. He needed serious help. Even so, I can understand why this film wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. If you didn't like it, that is, of course, fine. But some of us were able to glean a most serious message from HAPPINESS. Not that we didn't already know the message, but that the message needed to be raised and kicked over, as do most issues from time to time. So, we look at a film like HAPPINESS and WE are reminded of that which we'd rather keep hidden or rather forget, but that is only to our detriment.
9/10
-- 01/08/01 Tsk. Tsk. This one never showed up at the theatres here (Arkansas) because of its ludicrous NC-17 rating, but I kept it in the back of my mind and held out for the video with stupendous results.
This next effort after Solondz's fine A DOLL'S HOUSE is simply a masterpiece. I watched it alone at first and was then inspired enough to invite a mutually film savvy friend to see it with me. He was jaw-droppingly awed. This film is not for filmgoers who simply watch movies for entertainment. HAPPINESS is fine art. While it may be disturbing and depressing, that doesn't negate its fine script and story interplay. The fact that one of the film's characters is a pederast is hardly relevant as far as the film's MPAA rating is concerned. That character could have easily been rewritten into someone with a less disturbing problem. He is simply there to add strength to the film's argument.
What is the film trying to say? That, IMHO, many of us in America are so befuddled, selfish, and/or dysfunctional that we are wholly unfit to make choices about what's in our best interest, about how to attain true happiness. Instead we go seeking with our off-kelter minds what we think will make us happy only to end up ruined, because true individual happiness stems not from short-term gratification and desires, but takes long and hard thought about who and what we are. First Know Thyself. Then Fix Thyself. And if you can't objectively know yourself or seriously help yourself, ask someone or seek help.
While the pederast did seek help, his problem was such that willpower was not enough. He needed serious help. Even so, I can understand why this film wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. If you didn't like it, that is, of course, fine. But some of us were able to glean a most serious message from HAPPINESS. Not that we didn't already know the message, but that the message needed to be raised and kicked over, as do most issues from time to time. So, we look at a film like HAPPINESS and WE are reminded of that which we'd rather keep hidden or rather forget, but that is only to our detriment.
9/10