''Hey, Happy!'' is a Canadian science fiction comedy film, directed by

Noam Gonick Noam Gonick, (born March 20, 1973) is a Canadian filmmaker and artist.Ingrid Randoja"Gonzo Gonick" ''Now'', May 31, 2021. His films include ''Hey, Happy!'', ''Stryker'', ''Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight'' and '' To Russia with Love''. His work ...

and released in 2001. Set in a countercultural squatter camp on the outskirts of Winnipeg,"Shiny, happy prairie people". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', June 1, 2001. the film stars Jérémie Yuen as Sabu, a bisexual

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

disc jockey on a quest to have sex with 2,000 men before the imminent apocalyptic flood of the Red River. After successfully bedding 1,999 men, he sets his sights on Happy (Craig Aftanis) as his final conquest, only to be drawn into a love triangle with rival Spanky (Lexi Tronic, credited as Clayton Godson). The film premiered at the 2001

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. It had its Canadian premiere at the Inside Out Film and Video Festival, where it won the award for Best Canadian Film. In its subsequent Canadian theatrical release, it was screened with

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...

's short film '' The Heart of the World''."My own private Manitoba". ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with M ...

'', June 1, 2001.

Critical response

Writing for the ''

'', Geoff Pevere wrote that "If Gonick's first feature film (he directed the award-winning documentary about filmmaker

called '' Waiting for Twilight'') registers anything with prairie twilight clarity, it's expertly orchestrated chaos: as individually anarchic as any of the movie's set-pieces may seem- and the one involving "Magnolia Thunderpussy's Filipino witchcraft shack" is merely one- they're rendered with a cinematic skill that gives the rules behind the gameplaying away. Whether or not you "get" this flagrantly anti-linear movie, there's no missing the artfulness behind it." For the ''

'', Stephen Cole panned the film, writing that "none of ts cast amateurs all, show any aptitude for performing (Godson acts about as well as Sex Pistol Sid Vicious played bass), although inarticulate Yuen, who is forever pulling the hair out of his eyes, is an intriguing camera subject-hunk in the tradition of Warhol's Joe Dallesandro." In his 2006 book ''The Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas'', Thomas Waugh wrote that the film was essentially a postmodern update of John Greyson's 1996 film '' Lilies'', "but this one substitutes upbeat prairie rave euphoria for Quebec martyr melodrama". Thomas Waugh, ''The Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas''. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006. . p. 423.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0220514 2001 films Films shot in Winnipeg 2000s science fiction comedy films Canadian science fiction comedy films English-language Canadian films Canadian LGBT-related films 2001 LGBT-related films LGBT-related science fiction comedy films Films directed by Noam Gonick Films set in Winnipeg Squatting in film 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films