Happy Birthday

Feelings are twofold for this film, i really wanted this film to be bats**t crazy, with heavily twisted dark comedy but the character arcs, the acting of the lead actress in the film seemed to me either too stupid like the film itself. On the one hand, the film is well made considering the budget limitations but on the other the ideas outlined in it are enough at best for a wacky short film.

What do we see throughout the film on the screen with each passing chapters? Bunch of characters embodying their mission, hustling, running and ending up in more trouble than the one each one are running away. The interesting beginning with the gun bill comedy was good, then entered the Happy character, who wanders, gets involved in another story to avenge a corrupt Defense minister. Then we have a twist, warn you it is a dual role, it is not easy to endure both. Along the way, they get into even more trouble than the one from which they are running away. The plot itself is so crammed with cringe dialogues and boring characters like the Sharpshooter, room service guy, Max pain and so many more, they all seemed incoherent, in others it was drawn out and boring. I guess the director watched titles like Sorry To Bother You (2018), Swiss Army Man (2016), Survive Style 5+ (2004) and borrowed the aesthetics style from filmmakers like Leos Carax, Katsuhito Ishii, Nicolas Winding Refn, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang , Luc Benson, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Quentin Dupieux and create his versions in such buffoonery, overdose of memes and references to pop cultures.

The positives are very few here - the translation sequence is the best highlight from this film. I even liked the Binami character who is desperate to enter the club, the gutchi comedy was damn good. I feel pity for the girl accompanying him she would have regretted for accepting such a dumb role, well who wouldn't. Another consistent plus of all is the background score which is placed in right moments.

To summarize, i get the intention and motive of the director Ritesh Rana to make something different but sadly the result is not what he wished for. His doobie filled debut Mathu Vadalara (2019) was much better as he paid more attention to the writing, in this to the aesthetics but no to the characters. Regardless, it can be a good one time watch with your friends if you open a cold one and have a lot of couch time to kill.