Todd Solondz
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Eighth Grade (2018)
Directed by Bo Burnham
influenced by Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)
Themes Plot
To anyone familiar with the work of Todd Solondz, it seems like we could be in for some uncomfortable humiliation à la Welcome to the Dollhouse , where something bad happens to someone who deserves better.
And what’s more impressive than that is the way he unflinchingly and unsparingly follows a young girl on the outside of middle-school society while avoiding either sentimentalizing her or descending into the callous misanthropy that marred Todd Solondz’s conceptually similar Welcome to the Dollhouse .
Eighth Grade is, first and foremost, a charming coming of age comedy, that is never judgmental towards its lead character despite her adolescent mistakes; in fact, it’s far too wholesome to even be mentioned in the same breath as its closest narrative analogue, Todd Solondz’ dyspeptic 1995 film Welcome to the Dollhouse.
With the exception of those omnipresent screens—and headphones—these are themes that have been explored in many films over many years, with varying degrees of comforting humor (from the caustic “Welcome to the Dollhouse” to the comparatively vacuous “Mean Girls”).
It’s like what Mark says to Dawn in 1995’s Welcome to the Dollhouse , (pardon me, better movie): “High school is better.
Not since Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) has a comedy captured so vividly the agony and the ecstasy—well, OK, it's all agony—of being a homely, marginalized teenage girl.
American Beauty (1999)
Directed by Sam Mendes
influenced Storytelling (2001), Happiness (1998)
Plot Themes
(Solondz would go on to almost directly respond to that worldview with the flawed Storytelling .)
Maybe it didn't help that the following year, Dreamworks released a comedy/drama about not so happy suburbanites of its own, "American Beauty" which, like a lighter, more mainstream "Happiness" knockoff, went on to gather near unanimous praise and win a bunch of Oscars.
Director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") said he found "Happiness" condescending to its characters, and Solondz took enough umbrage at the remark to make a cinematic retort that merely goes further in its foul contempt for human interaction than "Happiness" did.
The resulting film, ‘American Scooby’, includes sly references to both American Beauty (there’s a shot of a plastic bag floating in the wind) and the acclaimed documentary American Movie (whose Mike Schank also has a bit part as Giamatta’s cameraman).
(Solondz's "cleverest" moves here are attempts at "self-censorship," including a big red block that obscures an on-screen sex scene, and a past-its-prime send-up of "American Beauty."
Solondz also takes a poke at the swirling-paper mysticism of that other, smugly superior critique of suburbia, American Beauty.
Ghost World (2001)
Directed by Terry Zwigoff
influenced by Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996), Happiness (1998)
Themes
"Ghost World", based on Daniel Clowes comic novel, has the keen incisive eye of "Rushmore" and "Welcome to the Dollhouse".
It's often pretty grim, venturing into the same territory occupied by Todd Solondz's films, Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness .
Although it's based on another source (Daniel Clowes' graphic novel of the same title), "Ghost World" is reminiscent of nothing so much as director Terry Zwigoff's last outing, the documentary "Crumb," crossed with the nightmarish "Welcome to the Dollhouse."
Much like Todd Solondz's shockingly effective "Welcome to the Dollhouse", Ghost World is a masterfully crafted mosaic of growing pains and self-awareness that is so convincingly perceptive.
It's often pretty grim, venturing into the same territory occupied by Todd Solondz's films, Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness .
The closest equivalent to this in recent American film has to be the work of Todd Solondz, director of Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness .
An introduction like the wedding dinner from Tod Browning's popularly misunderstood Freaks segues into a set-piece in which Mama's children invite Aviva (now played by a morbidly obese black woman) to join them in singing songs.
From its grotesque portrait of a household of born-again Christians ("Freaks" without the compassion) to its casting of an obese girl as one of the Avivas, "Palindromes" reeks of Solondz's trademark nastiness, reveling in a childish ability to shock the viewer.
Their production numbers are both funny and acutely uncomfortable: casting actors with real disabilities is nothing new, but collecting them into a horrendously tacky showbiz exercise can't help bringing to mind Tod Browning's 1932 circus story Freaks.
At times, the film�s sexual predation recalls the discomfiture provoked by Todd Solondz in Happiness, but Towelhead tells the story from the young girl�s perspective and, in the process, pinpoints the realistic confusion that comes from trying to make sense of our society�s conflicting signals about a woman�s desirability.
I kept thinking of Todd Solondz's "Happiness" (1998), another strip-mall parade of misery but one wracked with empathy for the monsters it portrays.
Clucking hausfraus, midnight football matches and assorted American Beauty residue abounds: the mandatory scream falls to Haley, who is bound to get critical kudos just for the "daring" conception of his character, like Dylan Baker's grim-faced pederast in Happiness.
Echoing Sam Mendes' American Beauty and Todd Solondz's Happiness, Little Children should be potential Oscar material, thanks to the direction and performances, especially from Winslet and Wilson.
With this luridly beautiful film, Araki graduates into the company of such explorers as Todd Solondz ("Happiness") and Catherine Breillat ("Fat Girl").
Certains détails de la facture du film d’Araki ne sont pas non plus étrangers à la manière dont Todd Solondz souleva le cas de la pédophilie dans son foudroyant Happiness.
At a few points, I found myself chuckling at this brand of horror, for it reminded me of such classics as Happiness or Palindromes (in a twist, Ari Aster looks like a young Todd Solondz).
At a few points, I found myself chuckling at this brand of horror, for it reminded me of such classics as Happiness or Palindromes (in a twist, Ari Aster looks like a young Todd Solondz).
Happiness is an ensemble piece, much like Robert Altman's Nashville.
In true Altmanesque style, a 'la "Nashville" and "Short Cuts," "Happiness" interweaves several different stories together into a perfectly-woven tapestry that is admittedly quite ironic, since the title of the film is the farthest possible feeling away that any of the miserable characters presented here could be.
This subtly envious dad recalls the confession of the pedophile father to his own son in Todd Solondz’s Happiness (1998) — but unironically , so that the transgression partly set up by Elio’s enlightened parents is made complete and without guilt.
Secretary (2002)
Directed by Steven Shainberg
influenced by Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996), Happiness (1998)
Themes
For a good hour or so, the film plays along in the vein of “Happiness” and “Welcome To The Dollhouse,” cutting a quirky, captivating style, yet never losing sight of the darkness of the material.
For a good hour or so, the film plays along in the vein of “Happiness” and “Welcome To The Dollhouse,” cutting a quirky, captivating style, yet never losing sight of the darkness of the material.
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Directed by Jared Hess
influenced by Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)
Characters Themes
Directed by Brigham Young University film graduate Jared Hess and written with his wife, Jerusha, "Napoleon" suggests Todd Solondz's "Welcome to the Dollhouse" stuffed into the confines of an MTV interstitial skit.
In many ways Hess' film owes considerable debt to the likes of Tod Williams' The Adventures of Sebastian Cole and Todd Solondz' Welcome to the Dollhouse, at least in terms of narrative structure and the deadpan exploration of the outer fringes of the high school social system.
When Napoleon appears in moonboots, elastic-waistband pants and a teal, wolf-emblazoned t-shirt, it's clear there hasnt been a movie character of such social-bullseye proportions since Heather Matarazzos Weiner-Dog in Welcome to the Dollhouse .
With its horribly geeky and painfully needy characters, this black comedy by Jared Hess bears a certain resemblance to Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse but steers clear of Solondz's punishing nihilism, allowing its hopeless misfits some genuine comfort in one another's friendship.
Unlike Todd Solondz's acidic Welcome to the Dollhouse, rife with stinging perceptions, Napoleon Dynamite ends up diluting its potency with some unbelievable side trips.
John Waters (director of Pink Flamingos and the recent Pecker) has lavished praise upon Solondz and Happiness.
There’s nothing about Andy’s pain or Joy’s shyness that goes beyond the comedy-of-discomfort of Albert Brooks’ first few films, or the grimmest Woody Allen — say, “Stardust Memories.”
Films like David Cronenberg 's Crash and David Lynch ’s Eraserhead and Blue Velvet have wedged our eyes open in the face of perversity.
May December isn't on the acerbic level of Todd Solondz's Happiness, which it thematically resembles.
The end result has wit approximate to Todd Solondz's "Welcome to the Dollhouse," plus the cheap special effects and gratuitous, sexually charged carnage of a "Toxic Avenger" film.
The film is also a bit like David Lynch's "Blue Velvet", as it takes a look at the (very) dark side of seemingly happy suburbia.
Happiness breaks through to haunted levels of erotic compulsion that place it closer to the hypnotic artistry of Blue Velvet.
Films like David Cronenberg 's Crash and David Lynch ’s Eraserhead and Blue Velvet have wedged our eyes open in the face of perversity.
Don Jon (2013)
Directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
influenced by Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996), Dark Horse (2012)
Visuals
His New Jersey is not the New Jersey of Todd Solondz (Dark Horse, Welcome to the Dollhouse) or Woody Allen (Broadway Danny Rose), although we can see the broad outlines.
His New Jersey is not the New Jersey of Todd Solondz (Dark Horse, Welcome to the Dollhouse) or Woody Allen (Broadway Danny Rose), although we can see the broad outlines.
Think of Altman's Short Cuts reimagined for the East Coast, or Neil La Bute's Your Friends and Neighbors with less smug distance.
In true Altmanesque style, a 'la "Nashville" and "Short Cuts," "Happiness" interweaves several different stories together into a perfectly-woven tapestry that is admittedly quite ironic, since the title of the film is the farthest possible feeling away that any of the miserable characters presented here could be.