I tempi felici verranno presto

Inspired by Němec’s Diamonds of the Night, among other films, Happy Times Will Come Soon is a narrative experiment in which Comodin develops his specific cinematic language combining a realistic approach (depictions of the present moment) with the mythological (what happened/could have happened in the past). Like his debut, Summer of Giacomo, this film takes place almost entirely in a forest (primarily at night and at dusk, not in daylight). After the fictional introduction, there is an unanticipated jump in time and we are suddenly watching the documentary testimonies of villagers relating a legend about the wolves that once plagued the forest. The film then changes direction and its nature again and we watch young Ariane, portrayed by the only professional actress in the cast, who sets out into the forest, where she meets one of the young men from the first segment of the film and more or less becomes a player in the fairy tale whose retelling we heard in villagers’ accounts of the legend. Furthermore, her story plays out before the events in the introduction of the film (while the epilogue is set in an indeterminate future). The varying approach to genre holds us in a constant state of uncertainty about what we are actually watching and how much it has in common with reality. The boundary between film types and genres is thus thematicised. Is it a fairy tale? A reconstruction of actual events? Improvisation? The film does not respect any boundaries (time, genre or spatial), nor does it adhere to any known narrative formula, which causes it to be highly irritating as well as provocative and stimulating. As a result, it is not merely an escape into the forest, but also an escape from the conventions of film narrative. I can’t say if it’s a good film or not, but I enjoyed thinking about it in any case. 65% (08.04.2018)