MovieChat Forums > Happy Here and Now (2002) Discussion > H.H.A.N.

H.H.A.N.

posted 18 years ago by savedby7grace
5 replies | jump to latest

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a film allowing you to draw your own conclusions, but this film doesn't give you enough substance to even do that. Unlike most movies that introduce several seeminly unconnected people and events, this movie never ties in these characters, which made me question why some of them existed in the first place. Gloria Rueben's character could have been eliminated from the script and it would not have made any difference. They would have to chance the ending but it was so surreal anyway that it wouldn't have mattered.

The constant philosophy sprouting by David Arquette's character is meaningless, the only use for it would be for information sake only and anyone who has been to college probably has heard it all before.

To me, this is a movie with a lot of potential that is inevitably wasted. The premise is a decent one, nothing new but still a decent one and I think that they could have done a lot more with it.

This movie is very disjointed and it could use alot of reconstruction if you ask me.

[–] tjbraune 18 years ago

*Contains Spoilers*

The plot is really quite simple: a girl is missing so her sister begins a private investigation, which leads her to a mysterious man with whom the girl had been having an online relationship. The sister assumes he is in some way involved in the girl's disappearance, but come to find out, he is really only a harmless eccentric who has found an ingenious way to make himself appear much more attractive than he really is. Actually the girl just left town without telling anyone, which is revealed when Ally Sheedy reads the postcard from her at the end. The several subplots are just as straightforward as that. Drawing your own conclusions doesn't even come into play. The point is that they all add a different dimension to the same theme, if you can even call it that. The premise is not one with potential that isn't utilized. It is supposed to be anticlimatic because the film is discussing the tension between perception and reality. It never attempts to make a definite point about that. It is far too complex an issue to make any definite points about. Hollywood blockbusters (which have their place, don't get me wrong) do that. Arquette's monologues are the meat of the whole movie. They aren't hackneyed nor something everyone who went to college would know. They bring together a lot of aspects from science, philosophy, history, etc. in an original way that was written and acted so beautifully they gave me chills at times. If one would take the time to think about the movie for five (ten, twenty...) minutes after the credits stop rolling, one might find it a highly rewarding experience. Much more so than being spoonfed what you are supposed to think about everything.

[–] hibes13 18 years ago

jeez. I was not that impressed. All of the things you are saying are only half there. They could have been much more succinct and come off half baked, rather than crafted. I think the director was going after too much and didn't have enough space to say even one thing. Yes, these people wish themselves different, but the focus wasn't on that aspect always. Instead we have tirades on nikkoli tessler and so on and so forth, left wondering about its partcular pertinence. This film taught me a lot about screenwriting because you can't say whatever you want because it kinda fits. If it kinda fits, then you are making a mistake. A lot of the stuff of this film only kinda fits together. I just think that's lazy and pseudointellectual. Then again I do laud him for using genric types to do more than the genre allows, but haneke does a much more subtle and more profound job. He especially understands film language better. Some of the direction could have brought out this muddled mess into something more.

[–] RGS-3 17 years ago

Nikola Tesla is a very interesting person (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla) and his Tesla Coil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil), a small version of which you see in the movie, is very cool. Check out xXx (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295701/) for a club scene with some major Tesla Coil action. Just thought I'd drop that in here.

[–] sherrym-3 18 years ago

I agree with "savedby7grace". I generally have a lot of patience with convoluted plots and characters who have dialogue that makes me think and question. (I loved Mulholland Drive). But this film isn't just open-ended and complex. It's completely confusing. Was there ever any information on what exactly happened to the older sister? Wasn't that the point of the whole film? Now if you are David Lynch, a genius IMHO, you can get away with an unsolved murder mystery that is just an excuse for trotting out all kinds of weirdness (Twin Peaks, anyone?). This film maker can't bring it off. Incidentally, I was surprised by one poster's assertion that the director had also made Nadja, which I loved. I would say his work is uneven to say the least.

[–] sgcim 14 years ago

This wasn't an easy film to understand, because it was very fragmented in the beginning, and the drug mediated dream at the end was equally difficult to figure out, but I saw it with someone who had seen it already, and he didn't fully understand it the first time either, but the second time he saw it he understood it and explained it to me .
Then I watched it a second time and completely understood the whole thing, which was well explained above.
I overwhelmingly prefer films like this to most of the films being made, but would've liked to hear some jazz in there too, along with the funk, blues, R&B, parade funk,etc...
It was very amusing and had a lot of quirky characters that made it an enjoyable experience.
My suggestion would be to read the explanation of one of the posters who understood the film, watch the film again, and then read the explanation again.
I can understand why there were so many negative comments about it; if I had seen it alone and not gotten a chance to see it again right after the explanations, i would've felt the same way.