AFF Review: Happy Ending
Playing with genre conventions is not a new idea. Scream and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon deconstructed the contemporary horror convention; Adaptation and Stranger than Fiction flipped story conventions on their ears. So the idea of deconstructing a genre and making its devices an open part of the plot isn't revolutionary. Yet Atsuhiro Yamada's first feature, Happy Ending, is a charming little film that will likely make most cineastes smile.
Momoko (Nahana) unashamedly borrows horror films without paying for them from the neighborhood rental shop. Kuroda, a fellow film buff and frequent companion at the local second-run arthouse theater, keeps reminding her that she owes 52,700 yen in rental fees (nearly $600US), as well as trying to get her to watch some romances. When Momoko drops a romance novel and picks it up at the same time as a handsome young man, her friend Maki is convinced Momoko is living a romance story. When the "prince" (Ryunosuke Kawai) keeps appearing, Momoko starts to believe it herself.
The entire Happy Ending cast is great, playing parts just different enough from the standard romance stereotypes to make them interesting. Nahana, as Momoko, is charmingly surly, and not about to bend for anyone else until she's good and ready. Mami Nakamura, recently seen in Fantastic Fest's Love Exposure, plays Maki with impish glee. The scene stealer is Reona Hirota as the movie theater's ticket booth lady, who only expends energy to show how unimpressed she is.
On the surface, Happy Ending is a simple romantic comedy wrapped in cinephilic dressing, but it's sneaky. It's not just a love story deconstructed, toyed with, and ultimately redeemed. The film pays tribute to believing in the magic of love even in the most mundane settings: a secondhand store, a cramped apartment, a DVD shop.
Yamada's story is an homage to Paul Thomas Anderson, particularly Punch Drunk Love. The film was shot in just 13 days in Yamagata, about five hours north of Tokyo. According to Yamada, he shot in only ("and all") of the nicest parts of the city. It's gorgeously shot by Jeffrey Chu, who also shot Yamada's short My First Kiss.
Happy Ending has only been screened two or three times before it played Austin Film Festival this year. At this time, the movie doesn't have distribution. It's not even on IMDb yet, but hopefully that will change soon. [Edit: It is now on IMDB as of the second week of November.]
Loved this
Due to a catastrophic double-scheduling, I was only able to see one movie at AFF this year, and I somewhat randomly picked "Happy Ending." I bummed a light from the lone guy smoking in front of the theater, and he turned out to be the director. We talked mostly about Baseball in Japan.
As soon as it started, I realized it was shot on video. "Oh, crap," I thought to myself. But I was amazed--this is the first thing I've seen shot on DV that actually looked beautiful. The compositions are striking and deliberate, gorgeous colors are just all over the place, and it's just really carefully lit. And this is from someone who rarely notices these kinds of things. Maybe the takeaway is that if you're using DV, you need to pay more attention to the aesthetics than normal, not less (which is what most people seem to do). The one real distraction was lots of shaky camera moves, but I can forgive that when a movie is a) so much fun, and b) made for 100 grand.
The performances are solid, and the script--even when conveyed through poorly translated subtitles--is delightful. The storytelling is just delightfully playful, and it's such an unabashed love song to rom-coms (a genre I happen to love).
I can't believe I was lucky enough to pick this as my one movie of the year.
You're truly a slacker
Robert - I saw you at Hair of the Dog brunch, yet you only saw ONE film at AFF? Did you spend most of your time at the conference panels, and which was your favorite?
AFF
I had planned on going to AFF films every night...until I realized that they clashed with Scare. Then I got sick from trying to do both, and that cost me another night, so the one night I had free was the night Happy Ending was showing, and there really wasn't much else that looked good. Last year I watched movies every night, and next year, I think I may try to only work the Scare nights that AFF isn't showing movies.
I went to a lot of the panels--I probably would have skipped the brunch, except I had set up to meet the guys who wrote my favorite screenplay from the competition--I sent it up to the semi-finals, and was stunned when it didn't make the finals. They were really nice guys, and we had a good talk, and they said my comments were really encouraging, which is great, because the world needs black humor like those two have.
I really liked the "Art of Storytelling" panel, because even though it wandered off topic a lot, Shane Black was a wonder--besides the fact that he wrote "Long Kiss Goodnight," one of my favorite movies (I managed to sneak it into an American studies class I taught), he was amazingly generous and encouraging. Just a very passionate person who really, really wanted to see other writers succeed.
I also saw Kirstin Smith on a couple of panels--she's fantastic. Funny as hell, crude, profane, and self-deprecating almost to a Woody Allen level, and she (with her partner) wrote "10 Things I Hate About You", which is the first script I fell in love with before I saw the movie, and "Legally Blonde" which is not only a good script, but apparently one that Blake Snyder uses as a frequent example (I still haven't gotten around to reading Snyder. Bad wannabe screenwriter. Bad.)
There was also a good panel on pitching with two studio execs and a manager--the studio execs talked about the pitch from their side of the the desk, while the manager was able to give his reaction both as a receiver of pitches from writers who wanted him to represent them and as a coach of writers who he sent out to pitches he'd set up for them.
All in all, not a bad AFF, but I'm looking forward to seeing more movies next year--that, and finally having the courage to join both the screenplay and pitch competitions.
I love when that happens
Film festivals can be so hit and miss, glad you made it to this one. [edit] I was lamenting that the IMDB link wasn't up yet, but it went up this evening. You can really help show distributors how much interest there is in a film in rating and commenting on it on IMDB. So go to the Happy Ending page if you want to show it some love.