What is your relationship with your longtime best friend like? Hopefully, it’s great, but for most of us, we’ve drifted apart. Ted Malawer’s short film, Happy for You, shows how even the strongest friendships face life’s storms and don’t always survive.
Abby (Mallory Portnoy) and Mark (Phillip James Brannon) are best friends, or at least they used to be, as life has drawn them in different directions. Abby is a New York Times best-selling author, and Mark is a Tony-nominated actor. At Abby’s invitation, Mark drives up to her farmhouse to catch up over dinner, swapping stories, and even passing gas. It feels like they’re picking up where they left off.
Then the real reason Abby invited Mark is revealed: she wants an apology. Not so long ago, Mark wanted a child, and Abby was willing to be the surrogate for him and his husband. That’s when the issue of genetics came up, along with Abby’s sister, Ali (Jamie Brewer), who has Down syndrome. Could Abby pass that on to Mark’s child? Nothing had been resolved. Old wounds reopen, and the two find themselves at a crossroads in their relationship.
Mark sits in a wooden chair outdoors at dusk in Happy for You.
“Not so long ago, Mark wanted a child, and Abby was willing to be the surrogate for him and his husband.”
Writer-director Ted Malawer starts with a simple, painful question: What happens when your most important friendship falls apart, and can you ever fix it? He wanted to show that breakup between friends with humor and grace, while acknowledging that the people we love most are often the ones who hurt us most. Then there’s the special needs aspect of the story. It comes from Malawer’s personal life. He volunteered at the special needs school where his mother taught. He wanted to show that the people he met in the Down syndrome community are some of the warmest and funniest he’s ever known—something you almost never see in movies—and to make you think twice the next time you meet someone who doesn’t look or act like everyone else.
I found the structure of Happy for You very interesting. The first half of the short establishes the relationship between these two old friends as they spend the night catching up. Malawer makes you feel for this friendship, so when it falls apart, it hurts even more.
That one little point of contention—Ali and the genetics involved—could tear this relationship apart for good. Both Portnoy and Brannon deliver fantastic performances. You really have to feel for each character, understand their wants and needs, and see how both sides had a truly difficult decision to make. Malawer presents this conflict in the best, most heart-wrenching way possible.
"…even the strongest friendships face life’s storms and don’t always survive."
