Took me a few days to figure out what bothered me about "Happiness". (spoiler alert)
What bothered me is the directors inconsistency of point. It stimulated no room for debate on the motives of the different characters, simply they were all scumbags who deserved their fate. My problem is that interesting questions for debate were so well set up but not followed through. Why did such a intellectually honest pedophile have to be a rapist, and then include the scene after the rape where the boy makes it clear he had feelings for the man? Why did the old man crave solitude then not use it when he got it, then become passively suicidal? Why didn't they follow through with the lesbian exploration they set up for the old mans wife?
It would have been a more interesting plot line (and more real life) If the boy struggled with guilt about masturbation (like every adolescent boy) gained confidence when the dad gave his brilliant advice and discussion, then became disillusioned and withdrawn after finding out the dad was a child rapist. Looking at this from my adult perspective the way the "pedophile and son" scenario played out was very cartoonish.
Simply put, I felt the director was trying to make some valid points and just ended up making a movie about life always sucking.
The director of this movie is one of the very few contemporary American filmmakers who is putting together an interesting product. I saw Happiness shortly after it was released...which I guess is a pretty long time ago, now. I've also seen a couple other of his movies, and they were good, too.
His movies ...for me ...fall into the horror genre, except there is no gore or other elements that one would notice as being part of a horror picture. The director produces a strange kind of horror, and I find his movies rather difficult to watch...you never know what kind of messed up shit the director will present to the viewer.
It all seems so banal in its delivery, and yet very psychologically powerful.
I've seen the director in interviews, and the dude is a MASSIVE nerd. I get the impression that he was picked on a lot as a kid, and now makes movies, to fuck with peoples' minds, and it's like his revenge against the society.