QUICK’N DIRTY: LIVE FROM TALLINN
Happiness is something very few people experience in life, and most settle for contentment. Not so Max and Maryna who do everything to be happy; against all odds. They dream of directing movies, telling stories and sharing love. They crave that emotion seldom found in life. Then war tears them apart, Russian soldiers bombarding Ukraine, yet their resolve – aided by Zoom – never wavers. Max hears about the death of his father, the man who influenced his debut film, and the emotion is still fought for. It is worth the struggle.
On some level, One Day I Wish To See You Happy recalls the forgotten love of Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella, 2003) and Testament of Youth (Vera Brittain, 2014) in that follows a couple fighting to keep what is dear at a time of war. But as this 2025 feature is a documentary, it follows two people in the present day, and what is captured is raw, real and ripe with pain. It’s hard to imagine any two actors re-interpreting this level of psychoanalysis in conventional time, such is the commitment to detail. But that is true of everyone’s lives; Max and Maryna are simply brave enough to put it on camera.
In 2021, Max receives a communication that he should spend less time on a car he “will never get running.” The statement has a ring of undercurrent: why devote so much fuel to a vehicle when he could grow and flower the romance at hand. What archive footage is presented shows a man who puts whole parts of his body into fixing an automobile, frantically ringing people for advice. It may be helpless but he feels it is worth pursuing to the bitter end.
This is followed by a scene in which he is found shaving, peering at his face in a reflection. There are scenes done in the fresh air: the pastoral hinterland providing elderly people with a quantum of respite at a time of conflict. People do what they can in order to to catch pockets of elation, and temporary moments of euphoria are better than none. The danger is never far away. Looking at the camera Max confesses: “we must find my wife’s glasses, and hope our apartment has not been looted”. Maryna is even more candid: “I’m afraid to go anywhere.” They smile and chuckle, to deflect the fear and sadness that has become their new existence.
Much of the film is delivered via Zoom, conversations recorded on a laptop. The constant online chats wears them down, but Max tries to inject humour by making clown faces. Humans are social creatures, and we all need some chuckles in order to get through moments of duress. But whimpering at the camera, Maryna says she is tired of the long distance communication, and aches to go home.
Acting as both subject and movie writer/director, Maryna’s insights are valuable, but she’s shouldered by Max. He’s proud of himself that he managed to quit commercials without telling anyone off. Together they blossom and grow, no matter the grief, and the revelation that Max has lost a parent.
The art of a good documentary is to be candid, and brave. Without one, the other feels less powerful. While love has truth, not every person is so confident in their standing as to document it on camera. That these two do at the back of a Ukrainian war is to their credit, yet that’s only one facet of this gorgeous work.It ripples along on that most sacred of endeavours: happiness and self-preservation.
One Day I Wish To See You Happy just premiered in the Doc@PÖFF International Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
