We normally don’t kick off a positive review by warning away a certain segment of the viewership, but as much as I enjoyed the slice-of-real-life comedy/drama “Another Happy Day,” you might not want to watch this one if you’ve recently welcomed a child into your family.
It might feel too much like looking in the mirror.
Written with knowing style and directed with economic confidence by Nora Fiffer and filmed in the Chicago area, “Another Happy Day” is an unvarnished, dryly funny gem about a young mother named Joanna (Evanston-born standout Lauren Lapkus from “Orange Is the New Black” and “Crashing”) who loves her baby but is waiting for her baby to love her back. As Joanna puts it, “I’m not like a mom — I just, I have a baby, you know?”
Joanna is a 35-year-old artist who hasn’t made any new art in a long while and is struggling mightily with postpartum emotions as she nurses and tries to bond with newborn baby Alma. Her husband Lucien (Jean Elie, “Insecure”) prides himself on being a participatory dad as he denies Joanna caffeine and shields Alma’s eyes from the blue light of the TV screen — but it’s clear Lucien can’t wait to dash out the door to work every morning, leaving Joanna to spend another endless day at home. (Every time Alma drifts off to sleep, Joanna says, “Hey phone, start timer,” and then “Hey phone, end timer” when Alma awakes, because apparently someone told her it was important to keep track of Alma’s sleep patterns. Alas, these naps often last about two minutes.) Not that Joanna doesn’t love Alma with all her heart; she just didn’t expect she’d feel this overwhelmed, this isolated, this lonely.
When Joanna tries to return to her job as a freelancer for an architecture/design studio, her icy cool boss Irene (the priceless Carrie Coon in a memorable one-scene turn) tells her that job is no longer hers. Meanwhile, Joanna’s mother lives far away and can’t visit until Thanksgiving, but she informs Joanna she actually does have family living in Chicago: “Aunt Miriam … your dad’s brother Leonard’s ex-wife.” In other words, a virtual stranger Joanna hasn’t seen since she was only a little older than Alma.
The wonderful Chicago theater mainstay Marilyn Dodds Frank plays Miriam, an acerbic and eccentric actor who sometimes has manic episodes when she doesn’t take her medication. Miriam has little interest in bonding with Joanna or her baby — she sets down a doggie bed for Alma on the living room floor — but Joanna has nowhere else to turn, and Miriam doesn’t have anybody either.
The relationship between Joanna and Miriam takes on the distinctive tone of a 1970s movie about mismatched friendships, with Lauren Lapkus and Marilyn Dodd Franks making beautiful dramatic music together. (We’re also treated to a cameo by beloved Chicago treasure Tim Kazurinsky, as the casting director when Miriam auditions for a TV spot.)
“Another Happy Day” is a vibrant and utterly real film, with sharp writing and endearingly relatable performances. Even the new parents who might find that it hits too close to home right now will surely enjoy it years down the line as they think: Yep, that’s what we went through too.