Review: Noam Gonick’s Hey, Happy!

Hey, Happy! is the gayest, grooviest sci-fi flick since The Man Who Fell To Earth.

Hey, Happy!
Photo: Mongrel Media

Noam Gonick’s Hey, Happy! is the gayest, grooviest sci-fi flick since Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell To Earth. Somewhere in the junkyards of an apocalyptic Winnipeg an evil drag queen hairdresser, Spanky (Clayton Godson channeling Sean B. Hayes), tries to snag a dopey Happy (Craig Aftanis) from the even dopier DJ Sabu (Jérémie Yuen). Pointless but audaciously campy, the film is ethereal like Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou-Chou but with none of the doe-eyed stares and pop-cyber culture references. This gay fairy tale is so luxuriously shot and sparely composed it’s as if Roeg himself was sitting behind the camera. The film’s vibe comes courtesy of Paul Suderman’s luxuriant camerawork; borrowing a page from Tarkovsky’s Stalker, Suderman gloriously evokes a brokedown industrial future in the film’s dreary landscapes. Hey, Happy! is impossible to pin down, so outré its unlikely to strike a cord outside cult circles. Undeniably unique, the film transforms gay culture (the bad, the good, the fabulous) into a bacchanal rave fantasia inundated with voguing transsexuals, outdoor porn shops and chubby Asian women (here, the ideal fag hags). The pumping soundtrack, tongue-in-cheek porn-speak, absurd diatribes and quirky sound design contribute to the film’s pot-stoked, bizarro appeal. Hey, Happy! is great for stoners, queens, ravers and, yes, parties.

Score: 
 Cast: Jérémie Yuen, Craig Aftanis, Clayton Godson, John Simone, Dita, Chelsey Perfanick, Sylvia Dueck, Lola Wong, Geoff Banjavich  Director: Noam Gonick  Screenwriter: Noam Gonick  Distributor: Mongrel Media  Running Time: 70 min  Rating: NR  Year: 2001  Buy: Video

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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