Really Happy Someday
What is a painter without a brush, a singer without a voice? 'Really Happy Someday' offers an answer.
BFI Flare 2025
‘All of my favorite places, are places that I’ve never been’ - Ordinary Days
‘Really Happy Someday’ is an intimate, raw portrait of Z, a trans man navigating the collision between his identity and his calling as a musical theatre performer. As a musical theatre aficionado and creative myself I was particularly excited to see this film, as the material and the ensuing struggle was something I understood the inner mechanics of, perfectly. ‘Really Happy Someday’ stands out with its documentary-like closeness, the film lingers and breathes, in small, revealing moments—the tremble of a voice during an audition, the ritual of testosterone shots, the quiet tension of a relationship breaking down. Its handheld camerawork and natural lighting immerses the audience in Z’s world, making even mundane acts like washing dishes, or a vocal lesson feel meaningful.
The film’s central conflict—Z’s grief over losing his singing voice while on testosterone—is rendered with aching specificity.
The choices for Z’s audition songs, which bookend the film, are particularly pointed. Les Misérables’ "On My Own" which used to be a song Z was able to perform with, and his goal song, Ordinary Days’ "Favorite Places," mirror his journey: a search for belonging in a body that seems to betray you. The script shines in quieter exchanges (a tender and affirming conversation about ear hairs with his boss), though some dialogue leans into familiar tropes ("you fought to be who you are"). Still, the performances ground it, particularly in Z’s vulnerability like lashing out mid-panic attack.
Where the film excels is in its refusal to simplify transition or creativity as linear triumphs. Z’s spiral—getting drunk at work, throwing away his testosterone shot—feels as honest as his breakthrough. The second act introduces a gentle romance with his boss Santi, their flirtation and cautious intimacy offering a counterpoint to Z’s earlier relationship. While in his previous relationship with a woman it almost felt tense, as if Z had to prove his masculinity, he finds pure acceptance in Santi’s eyes (a fellow trans man). Their karaoke scene, culminating in Z singing publicly again, is a highlight, as is the final audition callback, which circles back to the film’s core question: How do we rebuild ourselves when the thing that made us special and feel loved, disappears?
‘Really Happy Someday’ is a film about the messiness of reinvention—and the fragile hope that someday, the pieces might fit.
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