On occasion, a film festival that specialises in a specific genre will programme something that at first glance might fit in with the criteria, but turns out to be something more radical.
Two films that fell into this category at the London Frightfest 2019 were Jennifer Reeder’s KNIVES AND SKIN and Alexandre Franchi’s HAPPY FACE. The latter film certainly will need to be re-marketed and re-packaged like the former, as there is much virtue in a tale that is as contrasting as the films it was programmed with.
The horror in HAPPY FACE, a Canadian production co-written by Franchi with Joelle Bourjolly, is focused within the psychology of a group of physically disfigured individuals who attend a therapy group, led by a lady who is facing as much trauma with her own physical challenges being obese.
Into this group comes Stan (Robin L’Houmeau), a troubled young man who is having to deal with his mother’s cancerous condition and opts to hide away from the world through attending the group by facially altering his face with bandages and tape to look bad. When the session is over, he heads back to his friends to play Dungeons and Dragons and bars where he can clearly pick up any girl he fancies, given his naturally attractive looks.
However, when his mother’s condition worsens, he continues his deceptive sessions and has to confront not only his own fears, but those of the group he is infiltrating….
HAPPY FACE is not destined to be viewed as a horror film and if there is any as such, it is the horror that inhabits those who are suffering inside and the challenges they have to overcome to be more accepted within the world.
In an age when people are taking their lives through the immense and occasionally dangerous power of social media, which happily is being addressed by the corporate giants who are doing their best to eradicate a still-difficult problem, this film will come as a surprise and a cathartic release for families and adults who are struggling to overcome their own challenges.
Disfigurement has been dealt with previously in the likes of David Lynch’s THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980), an acclaimed film with an award-winning performance by the late Sir John Hurt as John Merrick, but HAPPY FACE is very much a film for our time – and about also our natural spirit of survival.
It is a surprise that the film was included in Frightfest, even as counter-programming, because it is a mainstream independent film that deserves to feature in a wide variety of festivals and dialogues, particularly to those who have suffered physical setbacks, either through circumstance or natural genetics.
It is also a movie that nobody should turn their eyes away from, as it is an immensely watchable, uplifting and occasionally very humorous tale. Although there is a sprinkling of strong language throughout and some sexual moments, it’s a film that should be seen by as wide an audience as possible as a lesson in how to appreciate others, regardless of their background and look.
It is also a film that will make people, whilst watching these characters, perhaps reflect on their own harsh and brutal truths to become better people – and that is ultimately the power of a good film, which HAPPY FEET strives to be.
