Happenstance
|
List Price: Our Price: $25.10 You Save: $4.85 (16%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.88 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Happenstance
Movie Review: What if
Summary: 4 Stars
Do you ever wonder how your life might have evolved had you not been stung by a bee, dropped your car keys down the street grate, and missed the Big Job Interview thirty years ago. Maybe you'd be the CEO of IBM by now instead of staring at this review before heading off to flip burgers at the corner BK. It's this cause and effect of random events that provides the storyline for the quirky HAPPENSTANCE. Audrey Tatou, the darling of AMELIE, landed her first screen role as Irene in HAPPENSTANCE. As the film opens, she's revealing her birthday to a total stranger on the Paris Metro. In return, her friendly fellow commuter reads Irene her horoscope from the newspaper and remarks that she'll find her soulmate before the day's end. Why? Because there's a full moon that evening. After Irene gets off the train, a handsome young man, who until now hasn't said a word, remarks to the news reader that he too has the same birthday. Right there the viewer can surmise the film's conclusion.
Irene only seems the lead because she begins and ends the film. In between, she's one of a cast of many unremarkable characters whose lives intersect through a series of minor random events, causing them to make decisions and take actions that lead, like a Rube Goldberg apparatus, to the final denouement. And we're not talking earthshaking events either. Leaves of lettuce fall off the back of a delivery truck. A half-eaten macaroon cookie is thrown into the street. A small cockroach crawls into a woman's handbag. A pigeon drops a big one on a couple's photo album. A package is abandoned on the Metro platform. A cafe customer decides not to eat a chocolate candy. A pebble is thrown from a balcony. Algerian sand imported by an illegal immigrant blows from a window.
The concept of HAPPENSTANCE is an interesting one, but, the ending being a foregone conclusion, no more profound than if I wonder what would have happened had I eaten chunky peanut butter instead of smooth back on October 17, 1964. And fans of Tautou's AMELIE may be disappointed in her Irene character, who's not only very ordinary, but sometimes cranky and rude (just like the rest of us).
While not eliciting an "Oh, wow!" from this viewer, HAPPENSTANCE is a respectably clever, gentle, well-acted, and deftly choreographed film that deserves to be rented for a quiet evening of contemplative, home viewing. And Audrey has those enormous, brown eyes that could melt linoleum!
Movie Review: A Small but Charming Film
Summary: 4 Stars
Like many who've been caught under the immaculate spell of the charming and talented French actress, Ms. Audrey Tautou of Amelie, I too have begun my own personal obsession of searching and exploring her other works.Happenstance is my second film after Amelie, and judging from other reviews, I was to expect a much smaller film in scope. And that basically what Happenstance is. It may not be as elaborate or artistic as Amelie, but it's a wonderfully fun film nontheless. It involves a number of varying characters and the actions they take throughout the movie have adverse effects on each other, which make for a cleverly fabricated plot that jumps you from character to character. The story itself, is not heavy or thick by any means mind you, but rather it allows the audience to follow these characters from different points of views and how the role of chance plays between these characters. And it's one of those movies where you can go back through it again and again and pick up important plot subtelties that you may have missed the first time through.
Audrey Tautou may not have too much of a presense in the movie as some may have hoped for (that would include myself), but she does do a terrific job playing her part nontheless. With so many characters to take in, there was only so much time given to Audrey (and any character for that matter). Also, for people expecting to see the same starry eyed and cheerfully adorable Audrey from Amelie, will find Happenstance a joyous treat. She smiles a lot less in this movie than in Amelie but her charm is still as evident as ever.
Again, it's a small film, and may appear very simple on the surface, but some who are willing to take a deeper look, will probably find its brilliantly crafted intricacies underneath. It might have been unfair to compare Happenstance with Amelie, but since the cover of the DVD shouts out loud "the star of Amelie," it was inevitable to measure the two. It may also be helpful to note that I did hold a much greater appreciation for the movie on my second time through, partly due because I had to watch the crummy VHS version, but mainly because I picked up more things that I hadn't before. Anyone that likes a good romantic comedy should definitely check this movie out if your interested at all, and if you're an Audrey fan, there's no reason why you shouldn't be watching this now. It's a fun and entertaining movie at heart that I definitely recommend.
Movie Review: Let It Happen To You!
Summary: 4 Stars
It seems the butterfly effect is alive and dancing in Paris as portrayed in this sweet French film.
Audrey Tautou is her usual brilliant self as a young girl who sets out on a Metro one day, for work, only to have her entire life change because of the actions of other people. Tautou loses her job and the day spirals into more of the same leaving her deflated and without hope, but on her way out of Paris things begin to change and another great French film is born.
This film is filled with a cast of interesting characters who manage to change and shape the lives of the strangers around them. A dirty bum falls at someone's feet, a married man bases his decision to tell his wife on a skipping stone, chocolate and coffee even have their own distinct roles.
Mixed within all of the sweetness of this film is the subtle message of cause and affect. In the matter of a day each and every person causes a reaction based upon their own actions. It is an interesting concept to ponder because it shows how the world is tied together as one whether we like it or not. But the best thing about this movie is that it conveys the fact that even on our worst days, where nothing seems to go right, we all have something interesting waiting for us around the bend and under the watchful eye of a bright full moon that shines the world over.
Movie Review: One small, solitary event...
Summary: 4 Stars
The film _Happenstance_ investigates how one small, seemingly meaningless event, can change the lives of many others. The script weaves a large web, with few degrees of seperation between the characters. There are no "main" characters in the film, because each story is so interlocked with the others. The French title of the film translates to "The Beating of the Butterfly's Wings", and it is unclear why they changed the title for the American release. The word "Happenstance" does not come up in any conversation in the movie, however a major scene in the movie discusses the butterfly's wings. Audrey Tautou's face is on the DVD cover, (not even a picture from this movie, I might add) and it is clear that the American marketing firms wanted to show off Tautou and use her recent fame to attract attention. While I think it is misleading to plaster her picture on the front when there are many other deserving actors in this movie, the marketing did work for me: I would not have found this movie had I not seen Audrey's face advertising it.
A fun and rewarding film that is sure to leave a smile on your face.
Movie Review: Sweet philosophical and character film
Summary: 4 Stars
Life is a series of accidents which are actually not accidents but actually part of a conscious design, a.k.a. "fate" or "destiny," and therefore just live in the moment, be open to whatever happens or doesn't happent but accept it all with serenity, and trust that it was all meant to happen.That's basically what "Happenstance" is all about---a thoroughly charming yet thoughtful film that probably won't find too many fans here in rah-rah, self-aggrandizing, self-deluded "yessiree, you can do anything you want with your life" pop-psychologized America.
It is a subtle, suggestive and provocative little film, without any clear predictable closure or conflicts, and the characters though are all all quite original and authentic. Ms. Tatou is her usual irresistible and stunning self, but so are the rest of the cast, not a dull character in sight.
What a breath of fresh air!