Happiness

What a sick, sordid, perverse, debaucherous film. And thank god I finally managed to watch it. This movie took fucking forever to find. Unavailable on any streaming app you can think of. Dead leads to websites with names so fishy your computer is liable to get an STD just hovering over the link. Copyright infringement takedowns that were uploaded on dailymotion 7 years ago. 360p uploads in languages I didn't even know existed. And suggestions anywhere from “buy the DVD for $50 on amazon” to “try your luck at your local library”. Lo and behold who comes through with a Hail Mary of a 1080p HD upload IN ENGLISH but some random Turkish (I’d assume) account on YouTube. Fuck yeah. Anyway, the effort was not only worth it but I finally see why companies would deem this slightly inappropriate of having on their service as well as wanting to avoid potential backlash from household families who unwittingly click on this expecting, well… anything besides this. Having its existence all but wiped out besides in the hushed whispers of back-alley cinephile conversations is a real tragedy. I’m not gonna act like this is the most obscure, deep-cut, unheard of movie of all time. With Philip Seymour Hoffman in it anyone who’s a fan of movies at all will inevitably come across this in some regard. But because of its obfuscation and nearly zero ease-of-access this slips through the cracks for most people besides the most die-hard curious viewers. Myself included for several years. This really sucks. While the topics shown are extremely taboo and its pitch-black approach at what most normal people would be hard-pressed to consider comedy, this really should be seen by more than who it’s been limited to. I say seen and not enjoyed because most people will not enjoy this. I did though. A lot. This shit was stupefying and I was laughing the entire way through. Seeing absolutely abhorrent and revolting behavior on display this plainly was so rad. This shit is fucking bananas and goes to places I couldn’t begin to expect. This is all while having an actual social commentary with something meaningful to say about personal joy and how we find that in ourselves and others. It’s easy to take these topics and turn your characters into shock value straw men. But there’s genuine depth in everyone on display. I’m tired of writing this review because I could yap about this movie for a while so I’ll just cap it by saying Turkey (I think) will always have a place in my heart after this. EDIT: New Jersey truly is hell on Earth