noralee
"Happenstance" is the most New York-feeling Parisian film I've seen since "When the Cat's Away (Chacun cherche son chat). "A film from last year released now to capitalize on the attention Audrey Tatou is getting for "Amelie," its French title is more apt: "Le Battement d'ailes du papillon (The Beating of the Butterfly's Wings)" as in summarizing chaos theory as a controlling element in our lives.Tatou's gamine-ness is less annoying here because she only occasionally flashes that dazzling smile amidst her hapless adventures, and because she's part of a large, multi-ethnic ensemble, so large that it took me a long time to sort out the characters, especially as some of the cute guys and older women looked alike to me, and some of the characters fantasize what they should do such that I wasn't sure if they were doing that or not. But I loved how urban the coincidences were, from immigrants to love nests to crowded subway cars to hanging around cafés.The subtitles quite annoyingly gave both parts of a dialog at once.(originally written 12/8/2001)
jjr3929
Having watched this clever film, all of us can relate to its message, and we can discuss the whys of our lives -- and, perhaps, we shall become somewhat dizzy during that exercise.This film, with the exception of the male nude scene, would be ideal for a classroom; it would serve as a springboard to a great discussion. Recently I thanked an "old" boyfriend for his decision to attend a certain college to which I, also, applied because of him. He did not attend, I did, and, of course, I met my future husband there."Happenstance" must be watched in one sitting since the cast of characters is rather large in number, and their lives are intertwined. I forgot all about the security guard with the dog and later the bug. Fast-forwarding slowly the DVD allowed me to refresh my memory; I watched this film over a period of three days; therefore, I did forget a few encounters.This is a fun-film to keep in mind for some light mental exercises. I agree with some other posters: the man in the park did not have to tell the viewers the point to all this.Good film -- stay awake for all of it.
TxMike
The fact that a long series of little things and daily decisions, plus randon events, unalterably shapes our lives, has long interested me. If Ronald Reagan had not been governor of California in 1967, none of my children would have been born and I would have no doubt turned out quite differently. Or even if my friend Phil had not told me that he didn't have a date with Judy for our college graduation, which led to my eventually marrying her. Little, unpredictable things like that. A recent movie with Diane Lane, 'Unfaithful', is based precisely on this, a missed taxi. This movie, 'Happenstance', is squarely about those little things too. But it goes a step further -- what if everything happens for a reason, the idea of 'fate' rather than randomness. For a small movie, the DVD picture is as beautiful, sharp, and detailed as about any I have seen. The style and acting reminds one of 'Amelie', but this movie is totally different. A really nice and enertaining 93 minutes.SPOILERS are contained in the following comments, please read no further if you fear disappointment. However, it is the type of movie that could be watched 5 days in a row, and one would discover new fascinations each time.The movie starts on a train, a lady is reading Irene's (Tautou) horoscope, reads aloud her birthday, a young man with the same birthday overhears it, both of them learn they will find love under the full moon if they are patient. They never see each other again until the very end of the movie, when they sit back-to-back on a bench, both with bandaged noses, as 'good luck' sand is accidentally blown out of a second story window and onto them. The middle 90 minutes or so take us through a complex series of little things, experienced by a whole bunch of characters, all of which engineer unwittingly this 'not-so-chanceful' meeting of the two young people.Without a chart and pens to diagram, it would be impossible for a mere mortal viewer to understand all the connections of all the characters, but that isn't important. A man hitching a ride in a lettuce truck spills some, causing a man on a bicycle to crash, causing a son to see him and dream dad had died, which leads to mom visiting him in Paris causing him to deal with his affair. Playing chance a man says, 'If he makes this toss, I'll tell her everything.' Another man says to the pebble tosser, 'Miss it on purpose, that man will act on something if you make it, so we can change his decision.' A grandma complains about a coffee maker, a bystander who was there only because of a prior conversation in a coffee shop overhears, feels the grandma is treated poorly, steals a coffee maker to give to her, but her bus goes away too quickly, Irene gets fired for it, he gives it to Irene who leaves it at the station, suspecting a bomb the train skips that stop, the young man looking up his former girlfriend who found him after a pidgeon pooped on some photographs misses his stop, is late for the meeting, the girl leaves, sees a man in a yellow coat, thinking it is the thief pushes him down, bloody nose, he meets up with Irene in the end.
The whole movie is like that, it is mesmerizing, the way connection after connection is depicted. Fun to watch, and almost impossible to keep track of.
bouncingoffwall
A film like this, with the right production team, could have been another Moonstruck, although certainly of a lesser caliber. Instead, we get a lot of overlapping scenes falling together at will. What this movie needed was some magic dust from the very beginning, and the radiance only that magic could have brought to it.When all is said and done, we have been through the disappointment of watching what could have been a much better movie falter. Some of the serious failings include unnecessary nudity in a movie that could have easily been popular with a younger crowd who were kept away by its rating. How the producers failed to see the potential this had as a family film is beyond my understanding. I imagine they lost a lot of money by misjudging their audience. But even if all of the above had been handled better or differently, the direction, along with the bleak settings and uninspired lighting would still weigh the film down.I am rarely as disappointed as when I see what could have been a good project succumb to mediocrity, and this movie is so immersed in it that even the actors do not escape its pall. My suggestion? Don't rent it; wait until it comes on TV.
