NP: From the Lynch to the Solondz

[Perry Noid]

"Weiner, *you* better get ready, 'cause at three o'clock today, I'm gonna *RAPE
you*!"

It was one of those high school movies that my friends and I would rent and
watch if we could find nothing else at the video stop to agree on, or the
kind of movie to watch with friends who aren't exactly interested in "arty"
or "intellectual" movies because it has something for both types of stoopid
high schoolers, the indoor and outdoor kids (I'll let you all guess which
one of the two I was). Other movies like that for me were Dazed and
Confused, Harold and Maude, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Swingers,
Trainspotting...the list goes on.

I don't think I have seen any other Solondz flicks. Happiness has been on
my watchlist for quite a while. I worked at a teeny movie theater (before I
worked at the University film center, I worked in more than one theater
growing up) and missed it when we showed it way back when and just haven't
gotten around to seeing it yet. Lemme know what you think of Happiness
whenever you get to it.

On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 3:45 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Just finishing David Lynch in our movie project (whom I have become sort
> of obsessed with; I can't overhype the esteem I hold him in now; he's on my
> internal Olympus of artmakers) and moving into Todd Solondz.
>
> We watched TS's *Welcome to the Dollhouse *last night, and I really
> recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. It's kind of a remarkable movie.
> It's really just the story of a very socially-unfortunate suburban
> 11-yr-old named Dawn. The persistent agony of her life as she comes of age.
> It manages to be remarkably sad and moving about straightforwardly
> emotional material without ever (in my opinion) becoming sentimental. It's
> interesting to watch it on the heels of Lynch's stuff, as they both include
> a lot of material that is overtly high-drama yet earn it in totally
> different ways, despite both embracing the drama head-on. Solondz is much
> dryer, though not at all disaffected. Very dark, very funny. Also maybe the
> best and truest treatment of young characters (and use of young actors) I
> can remember seeing in a movie. Maybe it helps that I was a child in
> roughly the same era of the movie. But I think it's really well-done. There
> are a few minor story elements I might quibble with, but not enough to
> really diminish the effect of the movie much.
>
> Anybody seen this thing? Is Solondz generally on your radar?
>
> Apparently his new movie stars Greta Gerwig as the girl from *Dollhouse *all
> grown up.
>
>
>
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