Review: "Terribly Happy"

It is into this world that policeman Robert Hansen arrives from Copenhagen, assigned to be the rural town's new marshal as his first assignment after a nervous breakdown that put him out of commission. From the moment he arrives, he is greeted with suspicion by the locals, who are very set in their often odd ways. Hansen finds it hard to adjust, as locals expect him to beat child offenders rather than arresting them, and other things that the old marshal used to do that go against police protocol. As he tries to get used to the town's quirks, he soon discovers its dark underbelly. People have been mysteriously disappearing here, but most people treat it like business as usual. That is except for Ingerlise, a local woman seen as a crackpot by most people in the town. Known for constantly accusing her husband of domestic abuse, an accusation often dismissed by the old marshal, Ingelise approaches Hanson with distressing news.

The title of Terribly Happy is ironic of course. It's a small town paradise straight out of David Lynch, a model of small town perfection barely masking the rot underneath. Genz directs like a Danish member of the Coen brothers, often times recalling Fargo in its portrait of strange small town citizens. The film is nothing if not darkly funny, using the unnerving situations to find humor in the characters' bizarre actions and personalities Genz wisely uses that subtle blend of humor to create something truly disquieting. Hanson feels it and the audience feels it, this town is just wrong, even though concrete proof of anything is hard to come by, other than just a creepy feeling.

Based on a true story, Terribly Happy remains grounded in reality while still maintaining just a touch of the surreal, keeping the atmosphere just off-balance enough to keep the audience in a perpetual state of unease. In an interview, Genz said the story reminded him of a Western, in which "a foreigner comes to town and all hell breaks loose." And that makes sense, it's a noir-ish Western set in Denmark, a film of delicious moral ambiguity and complexity that lures the audience in with its strange and terrible beauty. This is the kind of exciting and original filmmaking we need more of, and to see such a thrilling example so early in the year means that the rest of 2010 has a tough act to follow, because Terribly Happy has set a very high bar.
GRADE - ★★★½ (out of four)
TERRIBLY HAPPY; Directed by Henrik Ruben Genz; Stars Jakob Cedergren, Lene Maria Christensen, Kim Bodnia, Lars Brygmann; Not Rated; Opens tomorrow, 2/5, in select theaters.
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