Review of Terribly Happy (2008) by Travis F — 06 Feb 2010

The Academy Awards have often been criticized for being self indulgent and an event for movie stars to celebrate themselves. Although it seems sometimes they are blissfully unaware works outside of the West Coast the official selection list for Best Foreign Language Film allows those who dig deep to occasionally find gems. Such is the case with Denmark's selection for the 82nd Academy Awards with Terribly Happy.

The plot revolves around a Copenhagen police officer, Robert Hansen, who gets re-assigned to a small town after an incident at home. The first 15 minutes of the film left me quite disappointed despite some fantastic cinematography as it was set up like countless movies prior. Our protagonist comes to a small town in the middle of nowhere, with a shady feel and conspicuous residents, it contains a mystery for him to solve. Once the viewer is staring the get settled into this cookie-cutter setting, Terribly Happy turns itself around into a fine thriller with the introduction of the alluring Ingerlise Buhl. She sends Robert Hansen on down a dark path involving many unexpected twists and turns as he delves deeper into this towns secrets and himself.

Henrik Rubens Genz writes and directs this film while channeling David Lynch to produce a movie that, while absent of much action, keeps the audience interested with great suspense. This film noir is very well polished and supported by good acting from its lead characters as well as the supporting to keep the well established atmosphere intact. If there could be one complaint I would make it of the characters themselves. Most are stoic and even the main characters are hard to get too involved with. Nevertheless they play their roles well in regards to how to progressing the story along.

Overall, Terribly Happy is an engaging thriller who keeps the viewer interested with a winning plot even if some of the characters aren't as intriguing. More than worthy of a viewing, especially since fewer and fewer of these types of movies are being made of this caliber.