Happiness feels utterly like one man's vision. Happiness has an almost perfectly-modulated tone. Solondz cranks the dial just off of the station a bit, to where there's that almost imperceptibe fringe of static. They look just like real life. But it's somebody's dream-state real life, and the sense of alternate reality is palpable.
Happiness is the best kind of personal filmmaking.
I don't have to love Solondz, or his characters, or his story, or his point of view, to be thankful that he wrestled them onto a screen. It's a trek inside his head, looking out through his eyes onto his world, which is our world, too. The view is fascinating. Happiness has been compared to Blue Velvet , and I think it's a fair comparison because of Lynch's influence on Solondz and because both films are expressing the directors' very personal views, but I don't think this is at all a case of appropriation. Lynch's use of the surreal is overt and sensory, conveying his ideas through image and sound, often heightening the intensity of a moment to punctuate his thought.