Happy Happy

So I saw this movie again thanks to good old Netflix. It's a Norwegian film and almost made it to the shortlist for the Oscars in 2011, but sadly it fell short. It's a dark sex comedy from first time director Anne Sewitsky.

The movie centers around two couples however the main main character is Kaja, the wife who is always happy (happy). The two couples live on the same property in rural Norway and appear to be happy on the outside. Once we get a closer look into the couples' lives we find affairs, homosexuality, and infertility among other things. Suddenly all of their destinies change when Kaja finds a way to really be happy.

The plot centers around these four characters and their respective searches for happiness. They are all flawed, yet empathetic. Kaja is extremely compelling as she is an eternal optimist and you can't help but root for her, even when her actions are questionable yet understandable. Almost all of the characters motives and actions make sense, are believable, and explained in the plot. I found myself enjoying these characters.

It felt like a foreign film. It had very minimal scoring in it and extensive shots of the surroundings, well except for the babershop singing group that was intermittently shown singing songs in English throughout.

All four of the main characters, were completely believable. Kaja and the neighboring husband, played by Henrik Rafaelsen, were the most enjoyable to watch. Their characters were the least flawed of the four and the two happiest, but even so they had great chemistry and made the experience fun.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. It was a nice little character study about putting up a face for the public. I also enjoy these types of movies to see what the culture is like in different places. It was enjoyable but not extremely memorable, although all of the full frontals are probably pretty memorable. "I could do it again".