Happy Now

I saw HAPPY NOW on BBC2 on Saturday March 13th. I just stumbled upon it. I had never heard of it before. The fact that it was set in Wales caught my attention initially. Within minutes, I found myself totally gripped by the film. It was such a great story and was very well written and acted, by a very impressive cast. The cinematography was absolutely breathtaking. It really was a feast for the eyes. I also really enjoyed the score. It's such a shame that the film appears not to have had a UK release and also doesn't appear to be available on DVD. How can this be, when so many really lousy UK films get released each year? I thoroughly recommend this film. It really is a little-known gem.

Writer Belinda Bauer and director Philippa Cousins have turned out a stylish looking Welsh movie that doesn't know if it wants to be a sick black comedy or a semi-serious psycho based murder drama. It clearly wants to be an Alfred Hitchcock copycat film that's too obvious for any success in either genre.

Those with a yen for bizarre and nasty characters or gross situations will find this somehow agreeable but it flounders in typical, modern BFI style and ends up sinking itself in tastelessness.

Best attributes come via the good looking cinematography by Welsh born Richard Greatrex and an OK cast. Otherwise it's another cold and soulless modern wannabe failed 'classic'.

This movie unjustly suffers mostly from clichés heaped upon it.

It's a Welsh Twin Peaks parody, they say. Too Welsh to be funny - not enough Twin Peaks to work in the end.

In short: This movie is a victim of false expectations.

Yes, there are certain similarities if one spends the whole time comparing, but that does this movie great injustice. The few 'blatant' takes on Welsh culture clichés take NOTHING away from its positive charme - except for nit-picking Welsh viewers, perhaps. To 'foreign' viewers it's a convincing fresco of provincial life, as well as a Chabrol movie seems to non-French viewers. The Twin Peaks connection exists only on a formalistic plane.

Call me stupid, but I feel that this has a far more honest and less pretentious appeal than said cult hyper-soap. Give it a chance. It's more than the sum of your pre-conceptions.

* Schogger13

An excellent, off-the-wall, Twin Peaks meets Fargo-esque black comedy thriller. Strong performances by all of this ensemble cast, mixing new and established talent, make this a riveting viewing. Dark, well-observed, comedy-of-errors humour. Beautiful locations, well shot. Excellent score complements the camerawork. I'm sure we'll be hearing more from this talented first time features director.

I also stumbled across this film on BBC2 by accident. Why wasn't it promoted more by the Beeb? Do pull your finger out, BBC!

It's not every night that a really great film comes along and it's also made in Britain too. I decided to watched this film because it was set in Wales and I'm half Welsh myself. All British films really need to be promoted more and given a better slot in the scheduling on terrestrial TV. Not everyone has cable you know!

I really loved the dark humour of this movie. All the acting was superb but I was particularly struck by Paddy Considine. He's certainly someone to watch. A very edgy performance. And he's cute as well!