The next great rapper turned actor? | Mr. Happy review
If you are in need of help related to a mental health crisis or suicide, in the United States please dial 988 for 24/7 help.
Mr. Happy ain't a Pharrell banger! This "misguided search for true happiness" is a Vice short film from 2015 starring Chance the Rapper and Marie Oldenbourg.
Topics discussed:
3️⃣ Chance the Rapper crackles in a powerful film debut
💐 Flowers for the director Colin Tilley
📃 A connection to a seemingly unrelated hip hop classic
Also check out:
Watch Mr. Happy on YouTube
Read Vice interview with Colin Tilley
Read Billboard interview with Chance the Rapper
Credits
Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie.
And remember:
Don't hate...investigate!
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Transcript
on this episode, we're gonna talk about the 2015 short film called Mr.
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:Happy starring Chance the Rapper.
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:I'm DynoWright, filmmaker, designer, longtime hip hop fan.
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:I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, longtime hip hop fan.
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:I'm Boogie, a DJ, longtime hip hop fan.
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:Coming up on Hip Hop Movie Club,
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:Chance the Rapper crackles in a powerful film debut,
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:we give flowers to the director Colin Tilley,
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:and we make a connection to a seemingly unrelated hip hop classic.
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:Chance the Rapper plays a young man named Victor who unfortunately is suicidal.
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:He's severely depressed and he resorts to going online to hire a hitman to do the deed for
him after a few fruitless attempts on his own life.
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:His mind is warped, has odd visions, he's in a dead end job.
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:This movie was very suspenseful.
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:Takes a liking to a girl...he wants to cancel this.
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:But strange things occurring along the way.
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:Even though it's so short, you actually become really vested in him really quickly.
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:You see him unraveling in real time.
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:Chance the Rapper does a great job playing that role.
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:You really empathize with him.
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:And Marie Oldenbourg, who's the other star of this short film, plays like the flirtatious
free spirit.
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:And she's known for a role on The Young and the Restless.
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:they had a good chemistry on camera here,
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:Chance called this “a misguided search for true happiness.”
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:I think that was really apt.
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:This was his acting debut for this kind of feature.
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:And he said in an interview that it was very difficult for him because he's not normally
that kind of guy.
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:He's not depressed or suicidal.
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:He's very happy.
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:So to play against his own type and to do it as well as he did was really, really great.
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:You could feel his
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:tension, he’s unraveling.
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:You can really see it and the way they shoot it is also very supportive of it.
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:So it all worked really well for me.
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:It was shot pretty well where you can actually feel like you were in his head as he unraveled.
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:They do those cut scenes, do some voice distortions as well, some like silhouette type shots where you don't really know what's happening or who the character is.
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:So yeah, from that perspective, they use a lot of powerful film techniques.
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:This is Colin Tilley.
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:He's done a lot of music videos.
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:He's done a lot of TV commercials.
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:He did "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar.
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:Fantastic video.
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:This is not a feature length film, this was a really good evolution from what he's done in video and commercials.
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:I also read that Colin Tilley, he had a friend of his paint the portrait that you
see in the movie poster.
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:And it was done before the movie was even shot.
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:So it came from that.
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:It's very, very cool work.
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:Yeah.
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:that's cool.
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:Reminds me of like the drawing of like on TI's album cover, the famous, yeah, it's the
same style.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah, Paper Trail, yep.
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:We all had the same thought.
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:Yeah, that's funny.
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:I just thought of it now.
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:I'm like, wait, I've seen that type of image before.
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:Almost like mosaic.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah, that's my favorite T.I.
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:album.
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:I listen to that album a lot.
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:Yeah, the art for this movie was Kevin Spring.
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:The T.I.
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:album was Ian Wright.
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:And at least from an article I read with Colin Tilley, he has it hanging in his living
room.
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:I think we know where this is heading, but BooGie for Mr.
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:Happy, would you bring this funky flick back or leave it in the vault.
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:Not only would I bring this funky flick back, I will highly recommend it on top of that.
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:There you go.
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:Dyno Wright, Mr.
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:Happy, bring this funky flick back or leave it in the vault.
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:Definitely bring this funky flick back.
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:I also will say bring this funky flick back.
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:I think it needs some more exposure.
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:A lot of people should go and find this film and watch it.
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:It's a small time investment for a great film.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah, he's very good at this.
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:He wants to do more acting and I think he's got the skills to pay these bills.
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:You
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:Agreed.
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:Thank you for tuning in to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show for serious hip hop fans who want
to deepen their cultural knowledge.
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:I'm Dyno Wright, filmmaker, designer, longtime hip hop fan, and I enjoy Chance the
Rapper's:
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:fill-in sports reporter on Saturday Night Live and elsewhere.
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:Let's do that hockey.
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:I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long time hip hop fan.
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:And I'm a devotee of stripped down boom bap.
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:The simpler, the better.
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:Give me something like Special Ed’s “I Got It Made”.
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:And I think that just trumps a lot of other more elaborate raps.
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:Yeah, agreed.
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:And I'm Boogie, a DJ, long time hip hop fan.
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:And on this date of this recording, February 17th, back in 1988, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the
Fresh Prince released the classic single Parents Just Don't Understand.
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:I still don't think they do.
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:I know I don't.
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:And I'm a parent.
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:I couldn't stop watching that video when it came out.
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:It was great with the mom running around, chase him around.
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:was insane.
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:So good.
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:You knew right then and there that Will Smith had a acting career in the works.
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:He did.
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:Yeah.
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:On the next episode of Hip Hop Movie Club, we will review Rappin' from 1985, finally.
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:And remember, don't hate, investigate.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:Get on that.
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:And if you're in need of help related to a mental health crisis or suicide, please dial
988 for 24/7 help.
