My initial expectations of disappointment never fully came to fruition since this movie turned out to be better than some reviews suggested. In fact, my inclination to skip this one after the first few scenes quickly fizzled into an enjoyable excursion of dramatic intrigue. Even though this film delved deeply into how some people place their reliance about their mortal futures in the hands of either some ancient superstition (astrology) or on the outcome of some random occurrence dictated either by the arbitrary whims of chance or by the predetermined will of fate, I tended to focus more upon another theme that to me was just as prevalent and less controversial. What I am referring to here is the philosophical view as to how all of our lives are interconnected in ways we cannot quite fathom and might never fully comprehend...how no person can escape the benefits or the penalties that may come as a result of relationship to other persons. I will not give any specific examples from the movie since the journey it offers the viewer is one that involves slowly unfolding the connectedness of seemingly unconnected people and events. If I connected the dots about connectedness for you, where would be the fun (for you) in that? So I guess you could say that this movie validated some of my philosophical views: I believe that there is an organic unity in the universes of time and space which seems to underlie the whole fabric of cosmic events, inexplicably manifested ever and anon by what appears to be an amazingly fortuitous co-ordination of apparently unrelated universe happenings. I am also inclined to believe that it is this far-flung and generally unrecognizable control of the co-ordination and interassociation of all phases and forms of universe activity that causes such a variegated and apparently hopelessly confused medley of physical, mental, moral and spiritual phenomena so unerringly to work out to the glory of God and for the good of men and women and angels...but not always for the good of a bug (in this case, one who had a walk-on role but whose agent forgot to include a tiny clause in his contract that specified enabling this creepy-cute character-actor to walk off the set in the same healthy condition he was in when he crawled forth onto it to shoot his final scene...and to make matters worse, no listing in the opening credits, no "IN MEMORY OF" dedication at the end and worst of all, no favorable recognition from the Academy for opting to do all his own stunts).
Review of Happenstance
