Happily Ever After (2007) - By Duane L. Martin

Film Reviews: Happily Ever After (2007) - By Duane L. Martin
Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 @ 23:05:00 Mountain Standard Time by Duane

Every once in a while I get a film that surprises me. The first surprise I got with Happily Ever After was what it actually was. I didn't know anything about this movie going in. I popped it in and it turns out that it's really slickly produced and the story is told in a split screen. The left side of the screen shows the story from the guy's side and is running in normal time. The right side of the screen shows the story from the girl's side, and it's running backwards in time throughout the entire film. The film ends with the two of them together in the airport at the time they said goodbye and the guy went off on some business trip or whatever. It's REALLY strange how this is done, and I'm still actually trying to figure out how it all worked, because something doesn't seem right to me about how it was done but I can't put my finger on what exactly it is. Most likely it's just me being dense. Wouldn't be the first time.

The other surprise I had with this film is that it was only a bit over three minutes long. I actually popped it in the dvd player and started it and then walked to the kitchen, thinking I'd have time to get some stuff before it really got started and that I'd just keep an eye on it from there. By the time I came back from the kitchen a few minutes later it was over and I was like, "Wait...huh? What the hell?" So I had to start it over and watch it from the beginning.

Writer / director Lidia Sheinin did a fantastic job with this film. It's a really interesting story told with absolutely zero dialogue and the production values are beyond first rate. Emily Maya Mills and Kevin J. Kelly who played the couple in the film did just a phenomenal job with the roles. It was kind of a weird concept for a film, but they rose to the challenge and did a great job.

It's always a pleasure as a reviewer when you come across a film maker with a real natural talent, and Lidia Sheinin obviously has an overabundance of it. I'd be really interested to see what she does with it in the future.

If you'd like to find out more about this film, you can check out the Scared Mouse Productions website at http://www.scaredmouse.com.