What Happened Was... (1994)

So that is how it ends? I love it. I just watched What Happened Was… so that I can dwell more into the icy depths of lonelinesm. Tom Noonan is a "G" for writing this. I believe it was first adapted into a play and then later turned into a feature film. I like it so much because it is so different and so simple, yet complex in a very disturbing sort of way. The relationship between the couple on their so called "date" is so awkward that even the audience is lost in a trance. I LIKE THAT FEELING. It is neither a good, nor bad feeling, but it is LIVING and a psychological game we as humans play with one another that always has the same rules/outcome. Always; You hide. You hide who you are and what you do to PROTECT this person from figuring out who you really are. Which is a boring, unmotivated vessel. Their is a scene towards the end when, after Tom Noonan pours his heart out and says how pathetic he is, our main actress, Karen Sillas' character, mentions:"It's funny, you know? You finally GROW UP. You know, you finally figure out who the hell you are. And just when you got something interesting to give, they're not interested anymore."See now these are one of those lines that make me filled with utter jealousy when I hear them, and say to myself, "why didn't I think of that?!" "It has been right in front of me the whole time but I've just been too stupid to figure it out!" I believe strongly that what she is saying is true "you know?" It is saying (in my opinion), that you do not know what you got till it is gone. A little bit of that, mixed with the lonesomeness of not fitting-in in with the world. You wait so long for something to come. Something to make it all right. And when it finally does, then you realize that you actually are useless and won't receive anything from anyone until you go out and get it yourself. - One has to make their own self worth something, even if it takes pretending (which, I know, I shouldn't be the one talking since I cannot even pretend myself). - Misery; And doing things wrong is good. It's alright! You think you are digging yourself deeper in a hole, when actually you are building yourself higher than most individuals. It is not a piece of cake, let me tell you that, my friend. It is a disease and a curse. What is that QUOTE? "Curiosity killed the cat." Well, I was a curious-George myself, and, even though I am learning to accept my depression, I had to go through a lot of unnecessary pain. And the worst part is that from this curiosity, I am going to have to deal with this hurt for the rest of my life. It is going to affect my children, and their children. It is going to mess with my siblings relations and my parents' reputation. Yes, and I have to deal with it. Everyday.I gave this beautiful film a 5/5 and wish to hear more from Tom Noonan in the future.-- Michael Mendez

What happened was.... NOTHING. Sixteen minutes in, and the only cool thing that happened was she put this broken thing in a fish tank. Forty minutes later, she's still having dinner with hottie boombalottie, talking about nothing. I'm like halfway through this movie, and it has not even remotely interested me. When they showed the clips of the horror movie, I assumed it may be a horror movie. The only horrifying thing about this movie is how terrible it is. My friend loves it though. I am genuinely surprised that this has as high of a rating on here as it does. Nothing happens. The title is completely misleading. You assume something will happen. Because it SAYS "What happened was"... and you know what happens? Spoiler Alert!!!!!!!! They have dessert after their two hour long dinner!!!!!!!!!!!

I found this film emotionally wrenching but with no catharsis. Neither of its only two characters was particularly likable and yet the film permeated and enveloped in such a way as to make it imperative to care about and root for them. Both individually and as a couple.But the rooting was not without an ambivalence. The film unfolds and draws the viewer in but it never throws out a liferope with a hint of buoyancy to cling to. The man and the woman are intriguing but each of them has very evident psychological obstacles in their makeup. Maybe insurmountable obstacles.You want things to work out for them but you have to ask yourself to what end. Their lives are each severely wanting and problematical to put it mildly but there is no indication that joining forces would in any way ease the situation.Noonan never makes it easy for the viewer. It's kind of daring and exciting to realize at the end what choices he made as a writer and as a director. The characters are without any easily accessible wit or accessible charm and yet their dialogue is fascinating.Their exchanges are agonizingly awkward and yet completely engrossing. Engrossing in a very uncomforable sort of way. The discomfort was probably because it rang so raw and without any tarting up.I longed for more theatricality in the delivery of the lines. That would have provided an emotional distance and made it easier to take the film. But I have to admire Noonan for not choosing that route as a director.By going completely naturalistic, there was no barrier, nothing to shield you from the film's impact.I wish Noonan had chosen to end the film differently, though. I wish there had been more of a glimmer of hope.Although it's beyond presumptuous to discuss changes to the script, I wish that Noonan had ended the film with the Jackie character giving a different response to the Michael character's invitation to go out with him Friday night. Rather than responding that he should ask her again when they saw each other at work (accompanied by an expression on her face indicating that she had already lost complete interest in him), I wish she had instead said that she would be glad to have dinner with him if it could be a celebratory dinner. It would be conditional. That when he had finished making the preliminary arrangements to complete the credits for his law degree, she would be glad to join him for dinner. And that would be only a small indication of the kind of congratulatory blowout she would plan for him after he had gone on to pass the bar exam. And if Michael had also in turn given some reciprocal show of support to Jackie. She had no writing talent but judging from her apartment, she had creativity and a good eye. There was promise there. Promise to be encouraged.I guess I just wanted to believe that there was some small glimmer of hope that they could help rescue each other. But instead the ending was relentlessly and piercingly grim. Well worth seeing, though! The acting was brilliant, the set design, the cinematography, the music, all exceptional. And the last shot of all the buildings and all the apartment windows was very powerful carrying as it did the message that behind each window was more drama.

I have kind of mixed feelings about this one. It's pretty well done and I appreciate the way the characters are drawn in increasing complexity. But I sometimes felt restless and I just couldn't see why this rather sexy woman would ask Noonan out on a date, since while she would talk about how he was funny at work he failed to be funny in her apartment. Sillas was extremely good, with terrific body language that let you know what was going on as the mood changed from moment to moment.