Santiago and Eugenio are inseperable, being both best friends and longtime business partners of an electronics store. One day Eugenio disappears without a trace. Santiago notices his absence but doesn't worry until Eugenio's wife, Laura, shows up, explaining that Eugenio is gone and isn't coming back. Beginning a journey to find Eugenio, Santiago and Laura quickly find they have more in common than they previous thought. Daniel Burman's The Mystery of Happiness is a lighthearted comedy about happiness, dreams, and love. From a comedy perspective, The Mystery of Happiness is pretty funny, playing off the homosexual aspect of Santiago and Eugenio's relationship, with Santiago treating him more like his significant other than Eugenio's own wife. The pill-popping, housewife Laura is one of the better characters of the film, and how she and Santiago play off each other is what makes The Mystery of Happiness somewhat endearing. Consisting of a very light tone, The Mystery of Happiness explores some poignant topics, but unfortunately it is never as affecting or profound as it could be. There are some fascinating undercurrents of sadness throughout this film, with how Santiago comes to learn he wasn't as important to Eugenio as he believed, but the film's light tone never seems too interested in exploring it. I found Santiago's obsession with his job, and how it blinds him from finding happiness, to be one of the stronger aspects of the film, but once again it isn't explored as much as I'd like. The Mystery of Happiness does slowly transform into a surprisingly poignant statement on Happiness but it still feels slight, due to the film's overall tone.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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