Movie Review: ‘H Is For Happiness’

Review by Lisa Payne

Candice (Daisy Axon) has been given a school assignment by Miss Bamford (Miriam Margolyes) to take each letter of the alphabet to chronicle her life.

This sets Candice off on an enthusiastic mission to heal her fractured family.

Claire Phee (Emma Booth) and Jim Phee (Richard Roxburgh) haven’t been active in family life since Candice’s baby sister died of SIDS. Claire doesn’t leave her room and Jim spends all the time in his study researching and not speaking to his brother, Rich Uncle Brian (Joel Jackson) who he fell out with years ago because of a business partnership disagreement.

Along the way Candice meets and befriends Douglas Benson from Another Dimension (Wesley Patten) and his mum, Penelope Benson (Deborah Mailman), plus various other characters.

H Is For Happiness is a whimsical family movie with lovely performances by all involved. A very richly-drenched colour palette that makes the film feel a bit surreal. It was a lovely way of passing one and a half hours.

It doesn’t all play out the way Candice wishes, but then that’s life. On VOD/digital September 18th.