Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Kerry Bishe, Joel McHale, Al Madrigal, Natalie Zea, Paul Scheer Billie Wolff, Stephen Root, Natalie Morales, Jon Daly, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Shannon Woodward, Charlyne Yi, Brecklin Meyer, Brea Grant.
Of all the emotions that humans suffer, jealousy is arguably one of the worst, it brings out a certain vileness, a baseness of feeling which can lead to unpleasantness, contempt, and in the end the destruction of friendships and love through a lowness of action that is on par with despicability.
Money and sex are the often the driving force behind such flowering of resentments, the breeding ground of judgement and envy, but happiness, or the perceived notion that someone is not as miserable as you, is the wicked witch stirring at the pot of malcontent, the one who finds someone else who is happy with their lot, content just to be, and who will go out of their way to destroy them under the guise of home truth or bitter, spiteful words.
Happily we are able to distance ourselves from such people, but only if we recognise the signs early enough, if we catch the sideways glances and tune into the way they speak to us, for if we just keep going along believing that even our best friends are incapable of harbouring such resentful thoughts, we might find ourselves in a place determined by others unnecessary opinions.
Written and directed by Ben David Grabinski, Happily takes the unpalatable truth of the condition and gives it a thought-provoking twist. Not only have the friends of Janet and Tom, played with subtly of contemplation by Kerry Bishe and Joel McHale, become irritated by the love and sex drive of the couple, but they have begun to be actively distrustful of them, insulted by the joy they find in each other, and because of that, they have found their company disagreeable.
To capture on film the lesson of jealousy and how it corrodes the soul is always one that can be of great interest to the armchair and film psychologist, however what is usually missing from such films is the acknowledgement that that what we might perceive as jealousy, is in fact the guidance of the fates which makes us find that one person to whom we love completely and are able to forgive anything for, to be as one in the relationship. This perfect match is what upsets those around us, for they have been denied true love.
Whilst the film can be sparse in places, it nevertheless does ask important questions regarding faith and honesty, of how we view others and their place in the world, and whether our opinion is valid, whether it is necessary, to take apart someone’s happiness just to make ourselves feel superior to others.
A film that possesses the watcher’s attention, Happily is in a fortunate position and one that understands its place in cinema.
Ian D. Hall