Films like The Happiest Girl in the World.

The Happiest Girl in the World (2009) reads as Sombre, measured, measured comedy / drama, grounded 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.

The Man Next Door (2009) poster
1. The Man Next Door2009

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the heightened unreality; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Free Floating (2006) poster
2. Free Floating2006

Keeps the heightened unreality and the intimate, personal stakes; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Greenberg (2010) poster
3. Greenberg2010

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the heightened unreality — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Fresh Air (2006) poster
4. Fresh Air2006

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the cold, bleak undertow — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Everyone Else (2009) poster
5. Everyone Else2009

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the cold, bleak undertow — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Turning Gate (2002) poster
6. Turning Gate2002

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the cold, bleak undertow — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Nobody's Daughter Haewon (2013) poster
7. Nobody's Daughter Haewon2013

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the cold, bleak undertow; trades toward a bone-dry seriousness.

Submarine (2011) poster
8. Submarine2011

Keeps the heightened unreality and the intimate, personal stakes; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

A Stray Girlfriend (2007) poster
9. A Stray Girlfriend2007

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the heightened unreality; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

A Good Lawyer's Wife (2003) poster
10. A Good Lawyer's Wife2003

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the heightened unreality; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Puffy Chair (2005) (2005) poster
11. The Puffy Chair2005

Keeps the heightened unreality and the intimate, personal stakes; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Woman Is the Future of Man (2004) poster
12. Woman Is the Future of Man2004

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the cold, bleak undertow; trades toward a bone-dry seriousness.

These are The Happiest Girl in the World’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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