#Happy FKN Sunshine Movie Review

[fantastica-daily]

Happy FKN Sunshine Movie Review

A group of ragtag Canadian teens starts a punkish rock band in their small mill town in hopes of hitting the big time. Aside from their music, they’re pretty pessimistic about things, hence the name of their band: Happy Fucking Sunshine. The only person who really believes in them is Uncle Eddy (Ted Dykstra), who is also the owner of the local music store and has a recording studio in his basement. None of the kids’ parents do but they have preoccupations of their own—like, the mill shutting down and the accompanying economic downturn.

The band is organized by Will Weston (Matt Close) after his drug-dealing, tough-talking sister, Ronnie (Mattea Brotherton), buys him the coolest axe on the rack at the music store. Along for the ride are: somewhat dickish lead singer, Vince (Connor Reuter), a laconic, blue-haired drummer called River (Maxime Lauzon), and Artie (Dana Hodgson), who is Eddy’s nephew and a pathological liar, but who can lay down a mean bass line.

Happy FKN Sunshine is a coming-of-age movie with an authentic, gritty, cold small-town feel to it, with some personal chaos and tragedy along the way, as a few of the parents dive into depression (and in one case, the bottom of a bottle), but the band knows they’re good and that they have a chance at getting signed and out of the small town… if they can just keep it together long enough to perform onstage for a certain talent scout.

Close and Brotherton are the heart of the film as sister and brother and they’re well-cast—but the rest of the ensemble is more than able, with Hodgson and Dykstra as standouts. The band’s music is good and the filmmakers were able to snag some “names” for the score, including Carl Perkins, Mura Masa feat Slowthai, 999, Otis Clay, Willie Cobbs, IOLITE, Eddie Burns, Maestro Wes William feat Chuck D, and Alexander Lewis.

Happy FKN Sunshine is worth a look for anyone with an affinity for stories about bands mixed with coming-of-age (think: Ladies & Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains meets The Commitments).

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Review by S.L. Wilson

[movienation]

Movie Review: Rust Belt Canadian kids take their shot at Metal Music -- "Happy FKN Sunshine"

Movie Review: Rust Belt Canadian kids take their shot at Metal Music — “Happy FKN Sunshine”

The best selling point of “Happy FKN Sunshine,” a “let’s start a metal band” dramedy, is that the title makes it sound British, or better yet Irish. But no. It’s Canadian, set and shot in Ontario. They swear up there in the Land of Nice, too. So no going on aboot spilt milk, eh? It’s a scruffy little dramedy that borrows from its better predecessors. There’s more than a little of Alan Parker’s…