Terribly Happy

Terribly Happy

95 Minutes








Most stories begin with a man going on a journey or when a man arrives at a town. Both tropes take the main character and put him out of his element. In the first variation, the man wanders through strange and distant lands and his observations of aberrations soon become our own. The second strand has been utilized before in numerous films, masterfully in such works as Kurosawa's Yojimbo and even Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz to stinkers like Oliver Stone's U-Turn.

Danish director Henrik Ruben Genz employs the convention of the malevolent small town in his latest chiller Terribly Happy. However, Genz falls more in line with Stone than Kurosawa, despite his attempts to combine Lynchian surrealism with by-the-book noir conventions. Policeman Robert Hansen (Jakob Cedergren) has been transferred to a remote town from Copenhagen following a mental breakdown. Soon, Robert learns this small town (as small towns are wont to do in films) has its own set of rules that aren't by the book. Like Robert, we are meant to be confused by these strange locals and their habits.

All the conventions of the evil small town are here: the creepy child pushing a pram with a creaky wheel, tight close-ups of eerie, sweaty old men and a deep, dark bog where many secrets are buried. Genz combines these elements with the noir-ish notion of the femme fatale with an abusive husband for Robert to save and together they create the perfect elements for a freaky potboiler.

Unfortunately it's all so terribly boring and predictable. As Robert wavers back and forth between taking matters into his own hands or alerting his higher-ups, his flirtations with Ingerlise (Lene Maria Christensen) lead him on an inevitable road to disaster. To make matters worse, Genz employs disorientating shots, tight close-ups and eerie music to emphasize just how peculiar every mundane detail should be. When Robert finally takes action, Terribly Happy has already worn out its welcome.

Perhaps the film's biggest flaw is its underwritten protagonist. True, the main character in all noir stories is usually rogue-ish or has committed some crime, but Genz does not give us enough to believe Robert's motivations. When we finally learn what prompted his banishment from Copenhagen, it's not nearly enough to motivate this half-drawn characterization.

Terribly Happy is a film that can't figure out what it wants to be. Is it a horror film about a town with a terrible secret? Is it a character study lacking an interesting protagonist? Is it an existential comedy, evidenced by a ridiculous drinking contest and talking cat? No, Terribly Happy is a piecemeal pastiche of all these elements that add up to nothing more than a frustrating, and ultimately empty, experience.

by David Harris