I am so proud – and grateful – to have written the essay included in @oscopelabs ‘s restoration and release of Tom Noonan’s award-winning 1994 film WHAT HAPPENED WAS… , an unforgettable two-hander, starring Noonan and Karen Sillas.
I saw the film in its original theatrical release and was flattened by it. It legit made me anxious. #feelingseen is not always pleasant. I just got this strange eerie feeling that I got a glimpse, a glimpse of how bad it could get. And would get. Turns out, I was right. I always had this strange feeling about the film. It didn’t “strike a chord”. It showed me the tsunami that was coming.
I never forgot the film. I was haunted by it. Then I suffered through the literal decades of not being able to see it again. Well, that’s an exaggeration. It was released on VHS and I own a battered copy of it. But it was never released on DVD. Recently, it showed up on Amazon Prime. It remained so vivid in my mind – and I remembered so vividly my response to it – I was actually afraid to view it again. What if I felt the same way? What if it sent me into a spiral. But I toughened up and watched. The quality was extremely degraded and my response was different than it was back then but it was no less powerful. It still blows me away. So, to re-cap: What Happened Was…, an award-winning 1994 film, was never released on DVD until now.
This is THRILLING.
In 2019, having re-viewed the film for the first time in decades, I wrote about it for my Film Comment column. It got a massive response on Twitter, from people who remembered it back in the day (and were similarly haunted), or those who then raced to see it on Amazon Prime and came back to discuss. One guy said, “Okay I watched it last night and I had a nervous breakdown.” Yup. I feel you. The producer of the film, Scott Macaulay, found the thread, and joined in the discussion, thanking me for remembering this long ago film – the first film he produced – and told me many great backstage stories. It was so gratifying.
A year later I heard a release was in the works by none other than Oscilloscope Laboratories. Just like people who think they cause thunderstorms with their mind, etc., I wondered if I had somehow …. willed this into being? lol Or … was it just a coincidence? I write this huge piece about the film and suddenly it’s finally going to be released?? (Incidentally, that Film Commentpiece is one of the most personal pieces I’ve ever written … and – best of all – *I never mention myself*. That’s the trick!)
When I heard the news of the restoration and release, I was mainly happy more people would get to see this extraordinary film now but then Oscilloscope asked me to write the essay – since apparently I was suddenly the What Happened Was… girl. Not that it’s all about me, but when I got the gig, I thought about that freaked out young woman in 1994 coming out of the Chicago movie theatre – maybe it was Facets – and making my way home, truly rattled … and she would have no way of processing that so many years later something like this would come to pass. My own script – July and Half of August – was inspired – at least in mood and subject matter – by What Happened Was… (and Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke, but I digress.) More stories about loneliness, please!
What Happened Was… has been in my personal Great Films Canon ever since I first saw it. It towers above its peers – then and now – and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a small part of this historic release.
I just received my copy. The DVD package is gorgeous!! This release is long long LONG overdue and I’m so excited everyone can experience the film now.
You did this. No one else.
Thanks for saying that. It really felt that way!