The word that kept lingering in the forefront of my mind while watching John Goshorn's "The Happiest Place on Earth" is isolation. There isn't a daunting situation we face that hasn't been encountered by a multitude of others who could empathize with ease. And yet, it's so easy to forget that and feel alone when staring down the barrel of despair.
Such is the case for Maggie Price (Jennifer Faith Ward) during the course of the story. It starts out hopeful enough. A daycare teacher with dreams of starting her own family, Maggie and her husband, Jonah (Tom Kemnitz Jr) seem to have found their dream home in a Florida suburb. Monetary concerns continue to nag at Maggie, however. "If we wait, we won't be able to afford a home like this," Jonah tells her. "I can't NOT worry," is her reply. (He may be right, but striking while the iron is hot is not the most reassuring sentiment for the fiscally conscious.)
They take the plunge, move in and things appear to be falling into place. That is, until cutbacks force Jonah from his newspaper job. Soon his days are filled with phone calls to old contacts and potential employers while Maggie takes on additional side jobs to help make ends meet. She tentatively suggests asking her mother for financial assistance, to which Jonah objects. He can find his own solutions, he insists. Jonah attempts to uncover ways to cut costs, one of which involves dangerously manipulating the house's electric meter.
As possible solutions dry up and efforts to renegotiate the terms of the mortgage are unsuccessful, Jonah is soon reduced to applying for jobs he's overqualified for (ones he doesn't land anyway) and eventually ends his evenings before the television, ticket in hand, his face souring as the lottery numbers are revealed. (As though he had a reasonable chance of winning.)
Seeing the pressure he's under, Maggie suggests Jonah take a camping trip to a nearby beach. He agrees. At first, Maggie is relieved. But after receiving no word after a few days, she calls. No answer. Days turn to weeks. No word. Did Jonah have an accident? Get swept out into the ocean by a rip current? Sneak off with another woman? Just disappear altogether?
The key, I think, to the film's effectiveness lies in the distinct, sharply-drawn characters of Maggie and Jonah. Watching the film, I was reminded of how the main characters of lesser movies seem to lack a clear backstory, as if they just materialized at the start of the narrative. Here, we get a sense right away of the experiences, thought-processes and prejudices that affect the way Maggie and Jonah view the world. We learn that Jonah is a bit of a globetrotter type who flies by the seat of his pants, and possesses a tendency to make up life as it goes along. (At one point during a job interview, Jonah proudly states that he has worked for a multitude of newspapers "all across the country"... a statement that elicits skepticism more than admiration. So, which is it? Is this guy incapable or unwilling to hold down a steady job?)
We sense that, while Maggie probably fell in love with Jonah's free-spirit lifestyle, she is ready to settle down into the kind of life she likely grew up in. (I can't remember if it's revealed in the film, but I sense she grew up in New York City.) Unlike Jonah, it seems Maggie comes from a more financially stable background. Affluent but not without worry; a life where money was never our of reach, but nor was the fear that wealth could vanish with a couple bad life decisions. This backstory is reinforced by the arrival of her mother (Peg O'Keefe) after Jonah's disappearance has stretched into weeks. She soon stumbles upon a life insurance policy and, like a bloodhound on a scent, she wastes little time in highlighting her daughter's "options."
The performances are first-rate. Jennifer Faith Ward holds the center of the film and is especially effective at conveying her character's complicated thought process. She's not merely reacting to what she and her husband are going through, but showing, though subtle expressions, how Maggie's view of Jonah is changing upon the realization that he may not be the man she thought he was before their situation began spinning out of control. Tom Kemnitz Jr is equally effective in a more limited role, as he becomes more of a mystery as the narrative unfolds. Still, it's a tribute to his performance that Jonah's actions, while misguided, are not implausible.
There are few false notes here, though there is a head-scratching scene late in the story involving Maggie and her lawyer (Marco DiGeorge). After she accepts what appears to be a sex-for-money offer from him, she goes to his home only to find out that the offer wasn't for sex, but rather for her to make money cleaning his house. Maggie seems utterly humiliated by this realization. (Fair enough but, all things considered, would sleeping with him really be that much less humiliating? Seems to me she'd be debasing herself much more that way. Of course, there's always the possibility that she sensed a future for them together, but the scene doesn't really play that way.)
Minor quibble, though.
It's important to note that this being a low-budget film, it does not possess the shiny gloss of more mainstream fare. There is a tendency, then, to dismiss the technical aspects as being "weak." This really isn't fair. The truth is, production designer Elizabeth Sutphin and cinematographer Jeffrey Gross get a lot of mileage from fewer resources. When we see Jonah at work, for example, we never see establishing shots of the news room; only close-ups of him at his desk. While it was likely shot this way to cut costs (filmed on a college campus, perhaps?), the approach actually works quite well, as it conveys the notion that while employed in economically unstable times, we can still feel "cut off" from our coworkers. Isolated. Just one step away from losing a steady source of income. The effect works.
The film ends with a plot twist (which I won't reveal), yet it's one that doesn't feel clunky or forced. Rather, it feels like the kind of trick that life can sometimes play on us. (It reminded me of the twist at the end of Mike Binder's "The Upside of Anger.") It also carries a powerful symbolic effectiveness, resulting in an unforgettable final series of shots that will likely linger in the mind long after the credits.
"The Happiest Place on Earth" is a film that sneaks up on you. All Maggie wanted was a new life on solid ground. But is life every really on solid ground? Maybe all we can do is roll with the punches.
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