The Happiest Man in the World

Directed by Teona Strugar Mitevska, The Happiest Man in the World follows Jelena Kordić Kuret’s Asja as she arrives at a function designed to introduce strangers and help them get to know one another – with complications ensuing after it becomes increasingly clear that her partner (Adnan Omerović’s Zoran) has a big secret. Filmmaker Mitevska, working from a screenplay written with Elma Tataragic, kicks The Happiest Man in the World off with an agreeable-enough opening stretch that effectively establishes the central character and the oddball environs in which she finds herself, although there’s little doubt, certainly, that the easygoing vibe comes to a swift end once Asja learns of Zoran’s past – with the rather unexpected shift in tone paving the way for a midsection rife with tense sequences. (This is especially true of a gripping confrontation in a women’s washroom.) And although the picture contains some cultural nuances that’ll be lost on some viewers, The Happiest Man in the World is, for the most part, a stirring drama detailing the protagonist’s efforts at confronting trauma from her past. (It’s just a shame, ultimately, that the picture peters out long after arriving at what feels like a climax, and the movie’s misguided, interminable final shot is hardly as impactful as Mitevska has surely intended.)

**1/2 out of ****