REVIEW of Happy Here & Now (2001)

Set "a few seconds into the future," this new film by the director of Hamlet and Nadja is "a narcoleptic whodunit, part detective thriller, part low-tech sci-fi, that vibes off the same thrift-store R & B version of New Orleans Jarmusch worked in Down by Law." (Mark Olsen, FC Nov/Dec 02). A young woman (Liane Baliban) investigates the disappearance of her sister, whose trail ends on the hard drive of a laptop containing traces of an Internet relationship with somebody called Eddie.... Pitting the beguiling ambiance of New Orleans and the rich individuality of its inhabitants against the melancholy poetics and seductive disembodiment of virtual reality, this unclassifiable trip-through-the-looking-glass, featuring a typically eclectic cast (Ally Sheedy, Clarence Williams III, David Arquette), is a haunting yet playful chronicle of isolated souls searching for connection in a contemporary wilderness. And yes, there's even a little Pixelvision somewhere in the mix.