Happiness by Todd Solondz

Todd Solondz's film, "Happiness", is one not commonly seen in modern motion pictures. In the now comfortable atmosphere of film where gorgeous under-aged, under-weight, budding actors and actresses monopolize the scene, "Happiness" seems to be a fresh change brought to the screen. However, this change is not one that drifts away from reality like many others are doing, instead it focuses on what other films overlook and often purposely ignore. The human dark side, their disgusting behavior and socially disturbing taboos. The thing that really grabs my attention about this movie is the reality of it, even though I sometimes want to look away. Instead of glamorizing human evil by having the latest teen star run around killing people in a mask, "Happiness" confronts the issues that plague common people living common lives. Sure, it's twisted, but Americans go to movies to see stories through the eyes of others, seeing more realistic ones changes the perception of their views and really makes them look around and question everything they see.

To bring to light this reality, Solondz focuses on about a dozen characters as they go through their days facing problems many people face today. For example, Bill, a seemingly normal father has a fetish with young boys. It is this desire that fuels his ambition to carry out lewd acts with his son's 11 year-old friends. Now, this act should be shunned and normally, the audience should hate this character, but surprisingly enough, this is not the case. Though disgusting in our eyes, this man, above all, is still a great father to his kids and an adequate provider for the family. He is not your traditional scarred faced, shadowy bad guy. Another character one can focus on is Allen, a man struggling through life without knowing what love is. He substitutes this emotion by calling up strangers and getting off to their voices. Sick as it may be, you can see this man's torment, as it seems that he finds guilt in doing it.