Films like Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy.

Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy (2013) reads as Neutral, kinetic, measured drama / comedy, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, measured. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

Frank (2014) poster
1. Frank2014

Keeps the intimate, personal stakes and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) poster
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop2010

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The French Dispatch (2021) poster
3. The French Dispatch2021

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

American Splendor (2003) poster
4. American Splendor2003

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the intimate, personal stakes; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Life of Riley (2014) poster
5. Life of Riley2014

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a documentary-plain realism.

The Apostate (2015) poster
6. The Apostate2015

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the intimate, personal stakes; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Viola (2012) poster
7. Viola2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Breakfast on Pluto (2005) poster
8. Breakfast on Pluto2005

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the intimate, personal stakes — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Princess of France (2014) poster
9. The Princess of France2014

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

8 Femmes (2002) poster
10. 8 Femmes2002

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the intimate, personal stakes; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Leto (2018) poster
11. Leto2018

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a grounded, familiar shape.

Romance & Cigarettes (2005) poster
12. Romance & Cigarettes2005

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

These are Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

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