Whatever Makes You Happy
Anna Kemp (Rachel Delante) has a pretty good life going. She’s finishing up her thesis. She’s got a great, if busy, boyfriend. She’s close to her brother, Steve, and his girlfriend. And she’s able to go out and have fun with friends. However, something seems to be missing, and when she meets her brother’s friend, Alex (Tyler Peck), maybe she’s found it. They have a pretty powerful bond together, but it makes her life infinitely more complicated.
Andrew Sayre’s “Whatever Makes You Happy” follows a very conventional pattern for independent cinema: straightforward story; straightforward cinematic approach; good performances. What separates the best from the pack is how they combine each of these elements, although it helps if the performances are just a little better than “good,” and the story goes a little deeper than average.
In this way, Sayre’s film succeeds, and a big part of that is how he throws his main characters through the ringer when they, theoretically, should be at their happiest in the last 30-35 minutes or so. For the first hour or so, the film follows that path I discussed above, and it’s certainly an intriguing, character-driven story, especially because of the performances by Delante and Peck, who help dig deep into the minds of these characters as they try and sort out their hearts. However, it’s when Anna and Alex have chosen one another, and they commit to it fully, when the toughest decisions come up for them. Seeing those difficult choices presented make us feel closer to Alex and Anna, and make us more sympathetic when, in the end, Anna still seems unsure about her life. In a way, that’s the best way one of these movies can end– with melancholy feelings, and uncertainty that’s shared by both the characters, and the audience. Another conventional tactic for independent cinema, to be sure, but one that Sayre accomplishes with intelligence and probing heart.
