Variety Critics´ Choice 2002 / Happy Now / United Kingdom 2001
A combination of thriller and British comedy. The prologue from the year 1988 describes the death of a beauty queen in a small seaside town in South Wales. Fourteen years later hair stylist Tina returns to the town with her daughter who bears a striking resemblance to the girl who died all those years ago. Strange things start happening and a local policeman decides to investigate.
A decidely offbeat blend of mystery-thriller and British regional character comedy, "Happy Now" reps an interesting feature debut by Irish-born, Welsh-raised helmer Philippa Collie-Cousins, who shows a good grasp of atmosphere and setting, and draws fine perfs from most of her large cast. A prologue, set in 1988, describes the accidental killing of a beauty queen in Pen-y-wig, a small coastal town in southern Wales. Flash forward 14 years, and hairdresser Tina Trent (Susan Lynch) returns to town with her teenage daughter, Nicky (Emmy Rossum), who bears an amazing resemblance to the long-dead girl and sets tongues wagging. Film is flavored with all kinds of quirky touches, and the tone becomes increasingly gothic-comic as strange things start to happen in Pen-y-wig and a new cop in town, Max (Ioan Gruffudd), investigates. Derek Elley
97 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Philippa Collie-Cousins
/ Screenplay Belinda Bauer podle povídky/from a story by A. Weeraratne, Bauer
/ Dir. of Photography Richard Greatrex
/ Music Dario Marianelli
/ Editor John Wilson
/ Producer Neris Thomas, Alison Owen
/ Production Ruby Films, Distant Horizon, BBC Films
/ Cast Ioan Gruffudd, Emmy Rossum, Paddy Considine, Richard Coyle, Susan Lynch, Om Puri, Robert Pugh, John Henshaw, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
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