Parts of Happiness Is are fun to watch, but, overall, this Netflix South Africa project feels like it was more fun to make. Efiko Score: 4/10.
At work, Princess (Renate Stuurman) is successful enough to get the attention of the media. At home, she has a daughter who she co-parents without trouble. But as her 40th birthday approaches, she feels there’s something missing. That missing thing is at the centre of Nthabiseng Mokoena and Naledi Ya Naledi’s Happiness Is, which has its protagonist not quite living in the present and not quite letting go of the past, whether it is in her dealings with the father of her child or with her attempts at avoiding her own birthday party.
This is a decent, if not quite fresh, premise, but there’s a sizeable drawback in the way the story is told. That drawback is the result of too much telling, and very little showing.
Right from the start of the movie, it’s not so much that Princess is a successful businesswoman who doesn’t quite feel ready to turn 40, it’s that Princess says she’s a successful businesswoman who doesn’t quite feel ready to turn 40. It’s less about Princess hanging on to the past, and more about Princess being told that she’s intent on hanging on to the past. It’s one thing to use character interaction and dialogue to reveal character traits; it’s another to use them wholly as compensation for shallow characterisation.
Happiness Is doesn’t produce any tangible character arc, not just for its lead, but for everyone else in the movie. There’s nothing for the audience to identify with, there’s no one to root for.
It all feels hasty. Scenes happen in which dialogue and conversations are on the surface—two sentences are exchanged, nothing is revealed or developed, one party changes the subject, cut to the next scene. Motivations are hard to decipher and devoid of context. The audience gets a short flashback scene, and that’s kind of it. Even as there’s a lot of story to be told, there’s insufficient telling. Subplots either find a way to become major or get discarded altogether.
The film’s actors are very competent but without solid character development, their efforts are forgettable. It’s very clear that the actors enjoyed themselves while shooting. But too little of that enjoyment gets to the audience.
