Happy Holidays is a bit of a strange, but good, film from the mumblecore school of filmmaking. It follows the trials of a teenage painter as she leaves home and her boyfriend behind in DC to attend art school in California and the strains the separation cause. It’s told roughly as a series of chapters taking place before, during and after holidays and how everything has changed in the intervening time.
The debut film for writer-director S. Mohen, it come with all of the unfortunate trappings of an indie first feature, especially as video shooting becomes more cost effective and available to more people. By now we’re used to the charming nature of no-budget films with sub-par acting and overly personal stories, but Mohen gets away with it by the skin of her teeth here. It has a lyrical pace, and the (assumed) use of ADR in many of the scenes lends it a kind of European quality in presentation. The subpar acting is kept mostly to the secondary roles in this. Everyone who absolutely needs to hit a cue can, but it sometimes feels like a filmed play more than a film. What it has over other films of it’s ilk is that it contains the A, B and C that so many mumblecore directors seem to despise or fear. It tells a story. Isn’t that what movies are supposed to do?
http://insulinfunk.net/2008/08/18/happy-holidays-s-mohen-2008/
http://www.robixsmash.com/?p=1331
