5 Lessons in Happiness: Little Man (2020)

"Little Man"

It does not refer to a height of a man but a euphemism of his "manliness".

STORY
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Funny and cute. Not a second is wasted in the 15 minute run. The progression of the story is on point. It didn't dwell too long for a certain topic. The transition from insecurity to overcoming to reconnecting with someone in the past. ALL IN 15 MINUTES! But what I really like about this is how it ended. You decide what Hsuan Teng future will be. It didn't even explicitly say Teng's sexuality which obviously will depend on the viewer what will he be.

Ultimately, what I think will affect your decision for the ending is on the saying "Size does matter".

ACTING
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ADAM LIN (Hsuan Teng) - did an exceptional job for showing multiple of emotions. From the start down to the last scene. From experimenting look, to being surprised, then cutely sulking, next is a second guessing one, another is a scared cat, enjoying a companion, hesitating and lastly a contemplating Teng. That speaks volume of this actor's acting skill.

PAUL CHIANG (Sam Lin) - a look the suits a devil's advocate. One would ask for more of his background, HOWEVER, he is not the "little man" in this short. So to add his history will be a waste or a deviation from the focus of the story.

NOTABLY though, I couldn't see any awkwardness between Adam and Paul like they are friends in real life for quite some time now.

HUANG GUAN ZHI (Fong) - is the most adorable character for this short. So cute that I could pinch his cheeks all day long! However, the charactert's despite his innocent looks, there lies an agressive one, or should I say a desperate one. It is pretty understandable why is desperate though.

SONG
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Not much songs involve but more on the quirky sound effects that makes this short leaning more to comedy.

REWATCH VALUE
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This is a nice 15 minute de-stressing short. The downside is, it is too short! On the flip side, you'll spend roughly around 10 minutes laughing.

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Making a good short movie is tricky. Making a great short movie is very tricky. This team succeeded.

I was curious about this series of shorts since already the interesting themes had caught my interest--not to mention the very cool concept of the audience getting to vote for their preferred happy ending, which then will be included in a feature film version.

I wasn't disappointed. More like; laughing my ass off already during the first scene.

Because this IS funny. The theme itself is already hilarious--but that doesn't mean that it's not a very real issue for someone who has deeply rooted insecurities and complexes. This movie very skillfully balances the line and no matter how much it jokes about it--it never makes light of how seriously this problem affects our MCs life. It's drama comedy--but none more than the other.

A thing I found interesting and liberating, was how adamantly the MC made it clear that his stance regarding positions will not change just because of his (according to others) physical inadequacy for topping. Putting himself in a Catch 22, but with valid and sound reason. No matter how severely his... shortage... impairs his possibilities for relationships, he still won't compromise with himself to the extent of doing things that feel wrong for him. That's a very good message.
I also liked the comments from his BFF who apparently is TOO WELL endowed in the lower department--it points out that problems can be found anywhere, depending on how you look at things.

The production is very good--everything from smart and concise writing and editing, to the corny music that fits the theme and artistic style to a T. The acting, is great, natural and convincing and the entertainment value is huge. It's just really, really complete for such a short piece and I know for sure that I'll watch all the films in the series--and likely I will do so quite a few times.

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