NP: From the Lynch to the Solondz

[Johnny Marr]

I've also seen and liked Welcome to the Dollhouse, and have also failed to
watch any other Solondz films.

WTTD struck me as very 1990s in its employment of irony (but not so much
irony as to smother the general morality).

Steven, what did you make of Internal Empire? I watch it every three or
four years, still can't love it but wit each viewing I feel more intrigued
and simultaneously more enlightened yet also more confused. One
interpretation I'be heard suggests it's a portrayal of method acting in
extremis, as Laura Derm inhabits her character as much as she can in order
to understand her role.

On Friday, February 5, 2016, Perry Noid <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:

> "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
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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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