BÚÉK

In Hungarian co-writer/director Krisztina Goda’s remake of an Italian dramedy, a group of lifelong friends comes together on New Year’s Eve for a dinner celebration. They’ve all done well enough for themselves in their chosen professions while muddling through various stages in their personal lives - bachelorhood, engagement, marriage, parenthood, divorce - and it’s clear from their inside jokes and intimate way of teasing one another that they’re all ready to blow off a little steam tonight. When the conversation turns to cell-phone use, the pressure underlying that steam begins to build in the form of a little game: Everyone will put their phones on the table and share any incoming call, text, or e-mail with the others. The more their secrets come to light, the more the mood around the table darkens, suspicion, guilt, shame, and heartbreak rearing their heads among the auld acquaintances who might, as it turns out, best be forgotten by one another - and whose new year is beginning to look bleak indeed. Set in a claustrophobia-inducing apartment that speaks to the self-inflicted existential crisis of the urban bourgeoisie, Happy New Year offers a Carveresque answer to the question of what we talk about when we talk about love - to anyone but our supposed loved ones. (Denver International Film Festival)