The Pursuit of Happyness
director: Gabriele Muccino
starring: Will Smith
runtime: 117 min
[rating:3]
In his first English film, Italian director Gabriele Muccino presents novel insight into an otherwise conventional Hollywood rags-to-riches story in The Pursuit of Happyness. Set in San Francisco in 1981, the film explores the struggles of salesman Christopher Gardener (Will Smith) as he falls out with his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) and attempts to build a lasting relationship with his son Christopher (Smith’s own son Jayden). When his wife leaves them with three months rent unpaid, Chris secures an internship at a successful stock brokering firm, pulling through with desperation, determination and his ability to solve a Rubik’s Cube. The title’s spelling mistake refers to the graffiti on the wall outside Christopher’s dilapidated childcare centre. The point is; it doesn’t matter how it is spelt. Happiness is happyness. Conventional American morality runs throughout; The Pursuit of Happyness is a classic Hollywood fable.
Muccino does an admirable job, turning a melodramatic, overdone storyline into a film with depth and beautiful texture, achieved through largely handheld camerawork and muted mustard-yellow and brown tones. Most powerfully, however, he films people walking throughout San Francisco in close-up in the very first frames, suggesting the film is not only about an individual pursuit, it is about a decidedly American dream, in which happiness equals money. With overly moralistic dialogue, it is every man for himself. “You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can’t do it.” Smith carries the film with an intensely believable performance, whilst Thandie Newton is underused, limited to the angry black woman we saw in Crash (2004). The Pursuit of Happyness is not a brilliant film, but it is one to see if you believe in happyness.
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