B-Happy, j'ai peur de rien

Justiniano gave us a real one this time. This movie is shocking, frightening, and sometimes depressing, but the main character Martelli (Kathy) is always looking, without any fear, the way to survive the tragedy that the life can be for someones. Located in Valparaiso, the landscape are beautiful and the different rural locations are just like Chile really is. The director gave us a realistic view of Valparaiso, not the glam side of the city, but the dark and gloomy part of the harbor, that Valparaiso is. This movie is a great opportunity to entrance to the chilean movies, and I think that this movie it's a must seen for every chilean. Because you can recognize and watch a very accurate point of view of the people of the lately '90.

I didn't know this film at all, simply happened to walk in on it at a local film festival. And I was pleasantly surprised. The story is too predictable, and in the end it really leaves me indifferent if anybody gets to go to this sea port in the north (I forgot the name, but everybody is always talking about it. I guess it must be a Chilean thing). But Manuela Martelli, the lead actress, was amazing. Very powerful in her passivity, and even more so when passion breaks through occasionally. And I nearly fell off my chair when she took off her clothes. I don't know how old she is, but quite young I guess, and this was her first film ever. So we may be in for a lot of future viewing pleasure. But I hope she'll be able to do more than Chilean films, because those are not easily seen in Europe outside of world film festivals.

Gonzalo Justiniano, the director of "B-Happy" shows he has an eye to capture ordinary people in their natural habitat, as he demonstrates with this feature. He works in a sort of episodic way as most of the scenes end in a black dissolve. This choppy way for the narrative is the only thing that doesn't make the film flow more freely, but as a character study, we are shown real people going through a life that has not been kind to them.

At the center of the story we see young Kathy. Living in the country side, this young woman must commute to her school every day. Her mother works for the local general store and her brother doesn't seem to be any help to either woman. The father, we find out, is in prison. We see both mother and daughter, who seems not to know her own father, pay him a visit in the Valparaiso jail where he is serving time.

When the father returns, he proves to be no help to his wife and Kathy. He goes back to his bad ways. The only positive thing for the young girl is her school. The kind teacher, who is married to the grocer, holds Kathy in high regard. The arrival of Chemo, the handsome young man who befriends Kathy works wonders for her. Suddenly she feels being wanted and accepted. Chemo's ambition is to go north to Arica, a town that seems to hold a special allure in his imagination.

Things don't go too well for Kathy. She witnesses her family disintegrate in front of her eyes. This is when reality sets in. It's clear that Kathy must leave town in order to get a better life, but bad breaks follow her when she arrives in Valparaiso. The only kind person to her is the transvestite that lives on a boat in the harbor, but alas, the friendship is not a lasting one. Finally we see as Kathy is at the bus station buying a ticket to Arica, where one is to expect she finds a better life.

Manuela Martelli makes an incredible Kathy. She is in almost every frame of the film. Her face registers all what is going inside herself. An excellent performance by this young actress. Also good, Eduardo Barril as the good for nothing father. Lorena Prieto is the mother. Juan Pablo Saez plays Nina and Ricardo Fernandez is Chemo, the young man who inspires Kathy to flee her surroundings.

I really enjoyed this movie. It gives you a glimpse of the poor, rural and less known Chile. The actors in the movie are very credible and give you a sense of very "ordinary" people. I watched the movie in Spanish and even their accent/dialect feels genuine. Manuela Martelli (Kathy) has the power to absorb you completely in the story and her performance justifies well the various international awards for best actress. In the story you see Kathy as a very strong, independent woman who has learned not to fear anything. She repeatedly says in the movie "ya no le tengo miedo a nada" (I no longer fear anything) and she adds her unsettling/scary new experiences to her list of things she does not fear. She is a child forced to grow really fast and to face circumstances that will break many of us--yes she relies on her inner strength to overcome her circumstances. At the same time you are able to see Kathy's vulnerability and her longing for love and affection. This is a drama with strong scenes that at times made me uncomfortable--but nevertheless a very well done film.

Have you noticed how do simple movies had have a huge impact on the audience this last time? Just Think about ELEPHANT, for example. Plain story, wonderfully worked, acted, directed and filmed: nothing else needed. When a movie is well crafted, and the emotional intentions are correctly delivered to the audience, the most plain, stick man-acted, midi-sound-tracked story can receive a 20 minutes stand up ovation on Cannes. This is a fact, ans it is one of the most actually used formats on contemporary films. But, B-Happy isn't just plain, like a valley covered on green moisturized grass, is a mud filled down sloped crater. It is a awfully bad directed story, as told by a 15 year old kid who grades an F on grammar. The image is not clean: between scenes, you can tell when it's gonna be changed by noticing a slight brightening on the picture, which is really disturbing for the viewer's eye. Manuela Martelli proves once again, that her fame as a good actress is, in fact, mysterious: she just accomplishes with saying the lines and walking through the set. This film doesn't reach for the viewer's heart, it has no genuine feeling, and stimulates the unfortunate sensation that Chilean Film Industry goes nowhere. For real Feelings on a Chilean movie, Try Silvio Caiozzi, Boris Quercia, Gregory Cohen, just to name some.