Adam Beik

Quite the colourful display, 'Happiness' details the intertwined lives of the functional-yet-restless modern American on the search for true peace. The insanity that such an endeavour can entail, as is beautifully and horrifically shown in Todd Solondz's 1998 film, is on display in one of the most striking commentaries on the juxtaposition and simultaneous irony of the human fixation on contentment. It is a piece that is painfully comfortable not shying away from putting the ugliest shades of humanity on display. The viewer's outlooks will very likely be challenged by the complexity and ambiguity of the characters at play in the narrative, and for that, along with its execution, I hold this film's level of humanity high among the very best and have no problem giving it a perfect score. If film is meant to convey a notion, 'Happiness' was meant to be.