Happy Pals

A short drama directed by Ryan Palmer, written by Preston Fusci and starring Fusci, Brandon J. Somerville and Annalea Fiachi.

Ben (Somerville), a young man is part of a children's TV show named 'Happy Pals', where he is part of a team of five who sing joyful songs in a broadcast studio for the purpose of entertainment. His four colleagues are Dena the bear (Fiachi), Bara the sheep (Amber Li), Danny the turtle (Zoe Yale) and Antwas the elephant (David Hunter Jr.). Initially all appears to be good, however, it then becomes apparent that a devastating event took place in the past that has severely damaged Ben's life.

The screenplay mixes reality with non-reality quite dramatically, blending a children's show with a a terrible tragedy. As the narrative repeatedly alternates between the studio and flashbacks in Ben's home, it gradually becomes evident that things are not what they appear to be and that reality, what is really going on is far from good. As the story progresses, the truth is slowly revealed and the atmosphere becomes distressing and Alex Karukas' dramatic and dynamic music adds to the atmosphere. The mise-en-scene has aspects with creativity that deserves recognition. The TV performers (apart from Ben) wear clothing that clearly intends to represent the animals that they are portraying such as hats with bear ears or an elephant's face and the credit for this goes to costume designer Bonnie Jean Tyer. The studio where the show is filmed is decorated to resemble a forest or just nature in general with joyful-looking trees and a sun, the result of the work of art director Evelyn Eisele.

It should be mentioned for the sake of sensitive viewers that the plot deals with rather dark issues and some people might be upset by the emotions they might experience by watching this film.

As the main protagonist, Ben is a person who is struggling to deal with a tragedy and his mind seems to be stuck between the real world and the imaginary world that he has created with the intention of avoiding the truth and Somerville is brilliant is showing the variety of emotions that his character goes through in a world where he is happy and in a world where he is broken. This sort of split personality performance is also effectively captured by Fiachi, who plays two characters, one being the performer, the other Ben's partner and in the latter role, she is far from the jolly character in a children's television show. Generally, Ben's colleague's are attempting to prevent him from seeing the truth by keeping him happy, making him concentrate on joyful things. Fusci's character is one that is quite different from the rest and appears to represent reality. He plays Ace, a miserable-looking guy whose intention seems to be to make Ben accept what has happened.

For a film that largely involves a children's show with singing, smiling and bright colours, there are very heavy themes to be explored. Mental health is one, along with murder, loss and grief. What mainly drives the plot is the idea of creating a form of escape, of attempting to hide from a painful reality be retreating into a fabricated world.

This is a sad and dark story and it carries an important message: it seems to point out the fact that sometimes people desperately try to avoid bad things that have occurred and that the right thing to do would be to face the facts.