the happy poet [2010]
bill, played by writer/director of this flick, paul gordon, is a thirtysomething poet who wants to buy a hot dog stand. but instead of selling hot dogs in a park in the center of austin, tx bill wants to sell healthier options of the mostly vegetarian persuasion. this movie opens with bill with the loan officer trying to explain his desire for his version of a hot dog stand. the loan officer nearly laughs in his face. when he asks why doesn't he just sell hot dogs, a guaranteed source of income, bill haltingly explains his reasoning. he thinks there is a market in downtown austin for healthier foods. when the loan officer listens to bill with one eyebrow cocked he motions to bill's loan application, asks if the poet has any business experience in the food industry, and wonders why someone with a master's degree in creative writing is applying for such a loan.
bill, as essayed by gordon, is a likeable dreamer. he speaks sparingly using his words as carefully as possible. his uhs & uhms are like a protective shield between his desires, his dreams, his thoughts & the outside world. intrigued by all this the loan officer accepts bill's application but loans out a meager $750.00 to 'see what happens.'
if the above was too much exposition of the movie for this brief review i say in my defense that this is my second viewing of this movie. the first time was about a year or so ago when i found the pic on Amazon Prime. my curiosity was piqued by the title 'The Happy Poet'. a happy poet? i'll be the judge of that! yet, bill is a tough nut to crack. he does not smile in this movie. he has almost a lack of affect. still, his language does rev up when his passions are fired up. especially when his partner in the food business sort of betrays him in the third act.
naively does bill jump into the food cart business. we find him in the supermarket buying produce & tofu. why he doesn't use a food wholesaler? i don't know. we see him in the kitchen making his famous sandwiches, like the eggless egg salad sandwich [that does look & sound pretty darn tasty], & we see bill set up camp in auditorium shores. i name the place because austin is as much a character as any person in this film. bill almost gives up the business on his lackluster first day when a slacker named curtis, played by chris doubek, asks to try one of the sandwiches. curtis loves it. he becomes a friend who hangs out with bill during business hours & helps out in exchange for free food.
a bit later donny, played by jonny mars, rolls up on his scooter to bill's cart who also loves bill's food. donny in a short time becomes the driving force of the business, its marketing director, & the delivery driver because he has a scooter he uses to make deliveries. but it is curtis who names the business The Happy Poet because, as curtis says, bill is a poet. when bill protests that he is not writing much to call himself a poet curtis says that his way of life & the things bill does is the poem. which puts me in mind of a saying attributed to a possible apocryphal danish poet, paul la fluer, 'being a poet is not about writing a poem. it is about how you live your life.' bill does indeed try to make his life the poem by his food cart & a new found love interest, agnes, wonderfully played by liz fisher, who happens upon bill's cart during her lunchbreak. bill is like dante before beatrice. he gets all googly eyed & even more tongue tied.
soon, bill's lack of business savvy shows. he is soon out of money even tho his business is doing quite well. donny does his slight betrayal & bill hits bottom. does he come back up? does a petrarchan sonnet have an octave & sestet? paul gordon has crafted a beautifully slow paced comedy. its leisurely rhythm belies a sweetness to its principals. each person is holding on to life with a death grip. & when agnes gets bill to read her a poem the result is both poignantly sweet & awkward. gordon proves that poetry & happiness can, like keats' negative capability, live in the same person without irritable reaching after fact & reason.
