Reviews of Someone Else's Happiness
Displaying all 2 reviews
Kim Packard
12Apr08
The film opens with a scene of a forest at the edge of a small river that flows along a road. A white bird flies by. Could this be a metaphor for the car that is fast approaching or the soul about to depart? An almost inaudible muffed sound of the car hitting something, a crumpled figure crawling and a splashing sound of something falling into the water followed by a scene of a gray car arriving at its destination… then the driver comes out of his car and walks into a house as if nothing is amiss. Not an easy film to watch, the atmosphere remains tense as the rest of the story unfolds. Troubles are brewing everywhere, festering beneath the surface, seemingly to suggest that the sense of security and safety most of us take for granted in our youth is an illusion and that nobody is immune to harm.
- Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
Halim Cillov
6Feb08
In the tradition of ‘American Beauty’ and Ang Lee’s unforgettable ‘Ice Storm,’ Fien Troch’s ‘Someone Else’s Happiness’ exposes us a world of dark secrets and alienation that lurks behind the perfect white fences of suburbia…A hit-and-run accident shatters an already dysfunctional suburb and its problematic inhabitants when the young boy dies in the ‘peaceful’ streets of this small suburb. As we get to know the families involved with this hit-and-run, it becomes apparent that each of them is harboring a secret that is as gruesome as the crime committed. As the director Fien Troch takes us right into this vivid world and its all-too real inhabitants, we become a guest at their dinner table and a voyeur in their bedrooms. While these people become more and more three dimensional for us, we are also collecting clues which will lead us to the real criminal, if there is one…Through blending black comedy with a subtle social commentary, ‘Someone Else’ s Happiness’ speak volumes about our so-called modern life where everyone and everything is distant and foreign to our own private universe. As Troch subtlety deals with current epidemics like alienation and suicide, she also masterfully demystifies the dark passenger that lives in and, to a degree control, all of us…
- Currently 3.0/5 Stars.