Happiness

1935 silent Russian movie

Rating: 16/20

Plot: The life of a loser who actually has the surname Loser.

A polka-dotted horse, a grain house with feet, thieves stealing a box of nothing, lots and lots of circles, a woman trying to hang herself on a windmill, nuns in translucent tops, bulbous soldier masks--this is a movie that doesn't make a lot of sense as a narrative but is consistently entertaining because of its ideas and imagery. Well, as consistently entertaining as you can expect a Russian silent movie to be. There are absurdist leanings; it's stuff that recalls both Keaton and the surrealists. There's also all sorts of satire that I didn't understand because I'm not living in Russian in the 1930's. It all feels very subversive though with attacks on religion, the rich, the army, and gender roles. Happiness manages to be really smart without overtly saying anything at all. Definitely worth checking out for fans of Russian silent cinema.

Typing "Russian silent cinema" may be a new pretentious low for me, by the way.