Stars: E.R. Ruiz, Cindy Nicholsen, David Roche, Dawn Shaw, Robin L’Houmeau, Debbie Lynch-White, Dean Perseo, Noémie Kocher | Written by Joelle Bourjolly, Alexandre Franchi | Directed by Alexandre Franchi
Happy Face is a very different kind of film. Beginning as a personal concept and going on to an Indiegogo campaign, using crowdfunding as a way to make it happen, Alexandre Franchi (The Wild Hunt) went out of his way, with passion and a desire, to create a film that promotes diversity and shows real people with real disabilities and facial differences on screen in a way that isn’t presented as farcical, nor overly saccharine, nor merely tragic. The courage of these individuals is something Franchi explores, showing them, as he mentioned in his campaign, as people not just with disfigurements, but people with their own personal desires, relationships and insecurities. What a beautiful idea, what a novel approach.
The story itself...
Happy Face is a very different kind of film. Beginning as a personal concept and going on to an Indiegogo campaign, using crowdfunding as a way to make it happen, Alexandre Franchi (The Wild Hunt) went out of his way, with passion and a desire, to create a film that promotes diversity and shows real people with real disabilities and facial differences on screen in a way that isn’t presented as farcical, nor overly saccharine, nor merely tragic. The courage of these individuals is something Franchi explores, showing them, as he mentioned in his campaign, as people not just with disfigurements, but people with their own personal desires, relationships and insecurities. What a beautiful idea, what a novel approach.
The story itself...
- 1/14/2021
- by Chris Cummings
- Nerdly
An advocacy drama that doesn’t forget it needs to tell an interesting story in order to win viewers over, Alexandre Franchi’s Happy Face sometimes risks going too far in its tale of a support group for disfigured people: Though Franchi and cowriter Joelle Bourjolly have thought their metaphors through, they might have picked, say, either Cervantes or Dungeons & Dragons as a window into the trials of those who feel like monsters. The occasional screenwriting surplus aside, this modest production largely succeeds, making the most of performers — some established actors, some first-timers — who come as they are: Instead of FX makeup,...
- 12/31/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
An advocacy drama that doesn’t forget it needs to tell an interesting story in order to win viewers over, Alexandre Franchi’s Happy Face sometimes risks going too far in its tale of a support group for disfigured people: Though Franchi and cowriter Joelle Bourjolly have thought their metaphors through, they might have picked, say, either Cervantes or Dungeons & Dragons as a window into the trials of those who feel like monsters. The occasional screenwriting surplus aside, this modest production largely succeeds, making the most of performers — some established actors, some first-timers — who come as they are: Instead of FX makeup,...
- 12/31/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stars: E.R. Ruiz, Cindy Nicholsen, David Roche, Dawn Shaw, Robin L’Houmeau, Debbie Lynch-White, Dean Perseo, Noémie Kocher | Written by Joelle Bourjolly, Alexandre Franchi | Directed by Alexandre Franchi
Happy Face is a very different kind of film. Beginning as a personal concept and going on to an Indiegogo campaign, using crowdfunding as a way to make it happen, Alexandre Franchi (The Wild Hunt) went out of his way, with passion and a desire, to create a film that promotes diversity and shows real people with real disabilities and facial differences on screen in a way that isn’t presented as farcical, nor overly saccharine, nor merely tragic. The courage of these individuals is something Franchi explores, showing them, as he mentioned in his campaign, as people not just with disfigurements, but people with their own personal desires, relationships and insecurities. What a beautiful idea, what a novel approach.
The story...
Happy Face is a very different kind of film. Beginning as a personal concept and going on to an Indiegogo campaign, using crowdfunding as a way to make it happen, Alexandre Franchi (The Wild Hunt) went out of his way, with passion and a desire, to create a film that promotes diversity and shows real people with real disabilities and facial differences on screen in a way that isn’t presented as farcical, nor overly saccharine, nor merely tragic. The courage of these individuals is something Franchi explores, showing them, as he mentioned in his campaign, as people not just with disfigurements, but people with their own personal desires, relationships and insecurities. What a beautiful idea, what a novel approach.
The story...
- 8/25/2019
- by Chris Cummings
- Nerdly
Slamdance 2019: ‘Happy Face’ Directed by Alexandre Franchi, Montreal 1992. The film is in Quebecois French and English.The main character is a troubled boy trying to figure out / escape from his family problems.
Emotionally estranged from his seriously ill cancer-stricken mother, Stan, a strange quixotic 19-year-old, dons a face deforming disguise and joins a therapy workshop for physically disfigured patients in a misguided attempt to reconnect with her.
Desperate to become less shallow, the handsome teenage boy deforms his face with bandages and attends a support group for physically and facially disfigured people.
He is drawn into their plight as the withdrawn deformed ones who yearn for normal lives.
The drama of the film follows Stan’s attempts to get the half dozen deformed individuals to get past their withdrawal and confusion about their situation. When he’s exposed as a ‘fake’ deformed person he refuses to be kicked out of...
Emotionally estranged from his seriously ill cancer-stricken mother, Stan, a strange quixotic 19-year-old, dons a face deforming disguise and joins a therapy workshop for physically disfigured patients in a misguided attempt to reconnect with her.
Desperate to become less shallow, the handsome teenage boy deforms his face with bandages and attends a support group for physically and facially disfigured people.
He is drawn into their plight as the withdrawn deformed ones who yearn for normal lives.
The drama of the film follows Stan’s attempts to get the half dozen deformed individuals to get past their withdrawal and confusion about their situation. When he’s exposed as a ‘fake’ deformed person he refuses to be kicked out of...
- 2/27/2019
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
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