Synopsis
“The Yellow Smiley Face” is a heart-warming comedy about two old and computer illiterate parents who try to get in touch with their son, who lives abroad, by means of Yahoo Messenger.
Mia and Florin Popescu, the two main characters, are two ordinary persons, both over 50 and both a little scared of the technological changes going on around them. To them, the computer is nothing more than furniture until the chance to communicate with their son, Alex, who lives in USA, makes them step into the virtual world. They unravel this new territory using the instructions Alex has sent them in a letter. A piece of over-read paper is their map to the world in which they can be close to their son. Nevertheless, the steps that should be simple are rendered difficult by the unfounded fears of the parents, on one hand, and the sometimes too technical language used by their son, on the other.
Using a chat feature (Yahoo! Messenger – it is its logo that gave the title of the script) the two parents manage, with much trouble and helped by chance, to get in touch with their son (who, in the eyes of his mother, is of course weak and doing worse than at home).
The chosen location is an apartment in an ordinary Transylvanian town. The father poses as the family omniscient, the one who has the final word in taking any action, but at the same time he avoids taking on responsibilities so that he is not the one who makes mistakes. The mother somewhat tacitly takes the obedient role, but allows herself to make some comments on her husband. They are both caught in a routine of dialogues, too used to a certain way of seeing things which makes their passing into the virtual world very difficult.