“Venezia 70: “Mary is happy, Mary is happy” di Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (Biennale college cinema)” – Movie Review, Taxi Drivers, Maria Cera, September 2nd (Full article):
Using 140 tweets written by a real Mary, and not changing their chronological order, Thamrongrattanarit with a very small budget outlines a very likable story that’s organized by “enters”, which makes the “Twitter philosophy” work also from a visual point of view that’s halfway between absurd and real, bizarre and true, rethoric and sentiment.
Venezia: “Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy di Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit; Reply, favourite, retweet” – Movie Review, NonSoloCinema, Caterina Vettore, September 2nd (Full article):
The premise is interesting, but the question is: the film lives up to its premise? The answer is yes, it works, also a lot if you’re used to a certain Far Eastern cinematography with a subtle hint of madness.
Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy – Movie Review: 4 out of 5, FilmTv.it, OGM, September 3rd (Full article):
South-Eastern Asian cinema loves to lenghten waits and silences, stressing tries and fails, doubts and disappointments, which are all considered necessary steps of any coming-of-age. We find the same wandering and naïvely reflective spirit of authors such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Lav Diaz in Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy; but there’s a different scenario here, not mythological or naturalistic, but graphic and computerized.
“Crónica Venecia 2013: “Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy” la vida en 410 tweets al estilo Linklater” – Movie Review: 7 out of 10, Filmin, Lluís Muñoz, September 4th (Full article):
A deep and elaborate script that makes us meditate on the technological power and how, by way of one anonymous person’s tweets, it’s possible to tell a faithful and truthful story that reflects that person’s life even without knowing him.
“Venezia 70, Biennale College: “Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy”" – Movie Review, Recensito.net, Biagio Chianese, September 6th (Full article):
Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy is a proof of concept as simple as revolutionary.
“Vita, amore e solitudine di Mary in 410 tweet” – Movie Review: 4 out of 5, MyMovies.it, Peer Gynt, September 8th (Full article):
The storyline is irregular, disjointed (many scenes are brusquely stopped to move to the next one), but it makes the drama of the ordinary life of this girl alive. The absence of adults, especially parents, makes this story a sort of metaphorical parable that, even if it’s long, delights thanks to its originality and freshness. A must-see indeed.
Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy – Movie Review: 3 out of 5, MyMovies.it, Annalice Furfari (Full article):
The director took a difficult challenge: he took a series of random events and turned them into storytelling, finding a new way to tell a story, adapting an anonymous year-long Twitter stream. Thamrongrattanarit takes the challenge lightly, never taking himself too seriously, aware of the risks of this kind of operation, and never falling into paradox. And when he finds himself in front of a tweet that seems not adaptable at all, the director makes use of irony [...] The bet of this curious experiment is won: it’s a new way of telling an old story – about the difficulties of coming-of-age and the harsh acceptance of unpredictability of life – that never loses its modernity and intensity.
Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy – Movie Review, Rapporto Confidenziale, Chiara Rigione, September 18th (Full article):
Also this time the “duo” Thailand/experimental cinema makes something pleasantly surprising, although Thamrongrattanarit’s cinema has nothing in common with his visionary and eclectic compatriot Apichatpong Weerasethakul.