The Film
In writing and talking a lot about coming of age movies for the past 20 years or more, I’ve often observed that – very broadly speaking – European cinema tends to confront the harsher realities of growing up, while American cinema likes to put a little gloss on; a slight rose tint to the glasses with which it views childhood and the teen years. Todd Solondz isn’t particularly interested in that.
Welcome to the Dollhouse is often mistaken as being Solondz’ debut, but it follows the rarely screened Fear, Anxiety and Depression, which has never had a disc release to date. By all accounts though, this is where the director first truly stamped his distinctive style on a film.
The film centres on Dawn Weiner (Heather Matarazzo), an 11 year old junior high schooler. Dawn is something of a punching bag whichever way she turns. At school she’s ‘Weiner...
In writing and talking a lot about coming of age movies for the past 20 years or more, I’ve often observed that – very broadly speaking – European cinema tends to confront the harsher realities of growing up, while American cinema likes to put a little gloss on; a slight rose tint to the glasses with which it views childhood and the teen years. Todd Solondz isn’t particularly interested in that.
Welcome to the Dollhouse is often mistaken as being Solondz’ debut, but it follows the rarely screened Fear, Anxiety and Depression, which has never had a disc release to date. By all accounts though, this is where the director first truly stamped his distinctive style on a film.
The film centres on Dawn Weiner (Heather Matarazzo), an 11 year old junior high schooler. Dawn is something of a punching bag whichever way she turns. At school she’s ‘Weiner...
- 3/2/2023
- by Sam Inglis
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Wiener Dog, a four-story anthology from writer/director Tod Solondz, follows a little dachshund from one home to the next, finding masters who represent four stages of life – childhood, young adulthood, middle age, and elderly. The pooch is but a linking device to introduce Solondz’s real subjects; the dark and despairing characters that we associate with the oddball director. With his output of deadpan black comedies like Welcome To The Dollhouse and Happiness, Solondz has specialized in human weakness and cruelty, awkward exchanges, and embarrassing confrontations. He continues this tradition with Wiener Dog, easily his finest film since Happiness and one which features a trio of human performances from Julie Delpy, Danny DeVito, and Ellen Burstyn that are among the year’s best.
In the first story, the pooch is adopted by a high-strung couple (Julie Delpy and Pulitzer-winning playwright Tracy Letts) for their son Remi (Keaton Nigel Cooke...
In the first story, the pooch is adopted by a high-strung couple (Julie Delpy and Pulitzer-winning playwright Tracy Letts) for their son Remi (Keaton Nigel Cooke...
- 7/8/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Todd Solondz’s eighth film “Wiener-Dog” follows a single wiener dog on a life journey as he enters four separate domestic traps rife with dysfunctional and chaos: An uptight mother (Julie Delpy) and her fragile nine-year-old son (Keaton Nigel Cooke), the return of Dawn Weiner (now played by Greta Gerwig) and her classmate Brandon (played by Kiernan Culkin), a disgruntled film school professor (Danny DeVito), and a grumpy old grandmother (Ellen Burstyn) and her spoiled granddaughter (Zosia Mamet).
All of these stories explore Solondz’s recurring themes involving the futility of existence, the pain of suburban life, and the double punch of loneliness and regret. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below featuring Delpy’s character Dina teaching her son about spaying their new dog.
Read More: Sundance Review: ‘Wiener-Dog’ is Todd Solondz’s Angriest Movie
Todd Solondz first broke through with his 1995 film “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” about a shy,...
All of these stories explore Solondz’s recurring themes involving the futility of existence, the pain of suburban life, and the double punch of loneliness and regret. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below featuring Delpy’s character Dina teaching her son about spaying their new dog.
Read More: Sundance Review: ‘Wiener-Dog’ is Todd Solondz’s Angriest Movie
Todd Solondz first broke through with his 1995 film “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” about a shy,...
- 6/21/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Affonso Gonçalves with this Ace win for editing True Detective (2014)Affonso Gonçalves is a man that every actress lover ought to both thank and envy. Over the course of his career in TV and film he has been privvy to a consisently vivid series of strong and sometimes downright iconic performances by several of our greatest actress. He's helped shape the way we see them, too.
His career began in earnest with as an assisant editor on Todd Solondz's cult hit about a nerdy teenager Dawn Weiner in Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) and soon thereafter he was editing multiple films for Ira Sachs and other independent minded directors. In the 20 years since his debut he's edited performances by Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive), Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce), Kerry Washington (Night Catches Us), Michelle Williams (The Hawk is Dying), Kim Basinger (The Door in the Floor), and Patricia Clarkson...
His career began in earnest with as an assisant editor on Todd Solondz's cult hit about a nerdy teenager Dawn Weiner in Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) and soon thereafter he was editing multiple films for Ira Sachs and other independent minded directors. In the 20 years since his debut he's edited performances by Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive), Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce), Kerry Washington (Night Catches Us), Michelle Williams (The Hawk is Dying), Kim Basinger (The Door in the Floor), and Patricia Clarkson...
- 1/8/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Read More: How Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig Turned 'Mistress America' Into a Female-Friendly Screwball Comedy Packaged up in yesterday's announcement of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival premiere lineup were a number of standouts, but one film that definitely rocketed to the top of plenty of must-see lists is Todd Solondz's "Weiner-Dog." Billed as something of a spiritual sequel to Solondz's predecessor "Welcome to Dollhouse" (which also premiered at Sundance, way back in 1996), the film features one big change: Greta Gerwig taking over as Dawn Weiner with a new ensemble cast. Julie Delpy, Kieran Culkin, Danny DeVito, Brie Larson, Ellen Burstyn, Zosia Mamet and Tracy Letts are also set to star alongside Gerwig. Produced by Megan Ellison and Christine Vachon, the film tells the stories of people whose lives are changed forever by a loving dachshund. Check out new images from the film both above and below. Knowing Solondz,...
- 12/8/2015
- by Jeremy Berkowitz
- Indiewire
30. Sense and Sensibility
Directed by: Ang Lee
Ang Lee has gone in about eight different directions in terms of genre. His resume includes “The Ice Storm,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” Hulk,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Life of Pi,” and this delightful Jane Austen adaptation, starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and young Kate Winslet. “Sense and Sensibility” took home the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay for the story of the Dashwood family, a mother widowed and left in difficult circumstances after her husband has left his fortune to his first wife, instead of his current one. So Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones) and her daughters Fanny, Marianne, and Elinor (Harriet Walter, Winslet, Thompson) have to find a way to survive in a world ruled by men and the rules that seem to create obstacle after obstacle for them. Unfortunately, given the era, they are viewed as “unmarryable,” since they have no fortune and no prospects.
Directed by: Ang Lee
Ang Lee has gone in about eight different directions in terms of genre. His resume includes “The Ice Storm,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” Hulk,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Life of Pi,” and this delightful Jane Austen adaptation, starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and young Kate Winslet. “Sense and Sensibility” took home the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay for the story of the Dashwood family, a mother widowed and left in difficult circumstances after her husband has left his fortune to his first wife, instead of his current one. So Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones) and her daughters Fanny, Marianne, and Elinor (Harriet Walter, Winslet, Thompson) have to find a way to survive in a world ruled by men and the rules that seem to create obstacle after obstacle for them. Unfortunately, given the era, they are viewed as “unmarryable,” since they have no fortune and no prospects.
- 1/31/2015
- by Joshua Gaul
- SoundOnSight
Todd Solondz has always built his characters into an interconnected world. "Welcome To The Dollhouse" was the film that served as our introduction to his misanthropic take on the world, and it also introduced us to the character who remains my favorite out of all of his, Dawn Weiner. Played by Heather Matarazzo, Dawn Weiner was a beautiful outsider, a blissfully dorky little girl whose struggle to figure out how to fit in the 7th grade was both funny and painful, and Solondz wrote her with a remarkable amount of empathy. I would argue that Solondz has not been able to always strike that same balance and many of his films feel more mean, like he's an angry god raining on his own personal Jobs just for the hell of it. In both "Palindromes" and "Life During Wartime," characters from "Dollhouse" made a reappearance, but the character we would most...
- 10/23/2014
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Todd Solondz’s unique brand of filmmaking is taking a leaf out of the studio book. Yep, he’s making a sequel folks. Well, he’s actually making a quasi-sequel that’s partially inspired by his breakout hit, Welcome To The Dollhouse. The follow-up, entitled Weiner-Dog, will head into production some twenty years after the first, which may go some way to explaining why certain roles have been re-cast with adult actors.
According to THR, the script “tells several stories featuring people who find their life inspired or changed by one particular dachshund, who seems to be spreading comfort and joy.” One of those people will be Dawn Weiner, a relentlessly teased youngster played by Heather Matarazzo in the 1995 flick. Bridging the two decade gap to play the older Weiner (alright, stifle the chuckles!) is indie queen Greta Gerwig, who is currently in negotiations. While she’s not signed on officially as yet,...
According to THR, the script “tells several stories featuring people who find their life inspired or changed by one particular dachshund, who seems to be spreading comfort and joy.” One of those people will be Dawn Weiner, a relentlessly teased youngster played by Heather Matarazzo in the 1995 flick. Bridging the two decade gap to play the older Weiner (alright, stifle the chuckles!) is indie queen Greta Gerwig, who is currently in negotiations. While she’s not signed on officially as yet,...
- 10/23/2014
- by Gem Seddon
- We Got This Covered
Todd Solondz has created worlds and characters so unique and compelling that one film can't contain them. Eleven years after "Happiness," the filmmaker returned (sorta) to concerns and lives in that milieu (with some of the parts recast, and other tweaks) with "Life During Wartime," and now he's doing the same with his breakout film "Welcome To The Dollhouse." THR reports that Solondz is working on "Weiner-Dog," which will feature an ensemble cast rotating around a dachshund forming the thematic backdrop of the movie. (Uh, okay). But the biggest point of interest is that one of the film's threads will catch up with the adult Dawn Weiner, which will be played by Greta Gerwig. And yes, that sounds pretty damn great. Julie Delpy is also in discussions for a role,. Casting is underway and the project is picking up forward momentum thanks to Megan Ellison, who can once again be...
- 10/23/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Terrorizing tykes. Corruptible kids. Menacing mop-tops. Problematic pubescent. However one might want to use their alliterative labeling when it comes to troubled young people and the trauma they cause (or the trauma that gravitates to them) in the world of cinema it is always fascinating to see the suspense, aggravation and psychological ramifications behind such happenings.
Kid Power, Kid Sour: Top 10 Misguided Youngsters in Film looks to examine some of the young people involved in such disturbing dilemmas within various facets in cinema. So let us check out a selection of these impressionable violators (in some cases victims) and contemplate their predicaments at hand, shall we?
1.) Rhonda Penmark from The Bad Seed (1956)
In playing the little pig-tailed sociopath Rhonda Penmark in Mervyn LeRoy’s Oscar-nominated film The Bad Seed, child actress Patty McCormack received an Academy Award nomination as the kid killer without a conscious. Spoiled and devious to a fault,...
Kid Power, Kid Sour: Top 10 Misguided Youngsters in Film looks to examine some of the young people involved in such disturbing dilemmas within various facets in cinema. So let us check out a selection of these impressionable violators (in some cases victims) and contemplate their predicaments at hand, shall we?
1.) Rhonda Penmark from The Bad Seed (1956)
In playing the little pig-tailed sociopath Rhonda Penmark in Mervyn LeRoy’s Oscar-nominated film The Bad Seed, child actress Patty McCormack received an Academy Award nomination as the kid killer without a conscious. Spoiled and devious to a fault,...
- 6/7/2014
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
The rotund underachiever at the center of Todd Solondz’s new film Dark Horse is Abe (Jordan Gelber), a 40-ish man-child still living in the bedroom of his parent’s (Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken) home and in the shadow of his doctor brother (Justin Bartha). Abe passes most days at his father’s office avoiding work while trolling eBay for action figures to add to his collection. At a wedding, he meets Miranda (Selma Blair), a beautiful but depressed writer and convinces her to go out with him, after which he immediately proposes. She accepts but gives him hepatitis which puts him in a semi-coma, leading to odd dreams about a cougar co-worker (Donna Murphy).
Todd Solondz breakthrough film was Welcome To The Dollhouse back in 1997, the story of sad-sack Dawn Weiner, a homely middle schooler, the lonely brunt of teen cruelty. Misfit losers have been a theme of...
Todd Solondz breakthrough film was Welcome To The Dollhouse back in 1997, the story of sad-sack Dawn Weiner, a homely middle schooler, the lonely brunt of teen cruelty. Misfit losers have been a theme of...
- 8/3/2012
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Todd Solondz walks through the door of a Cafe on 12th Street in Manhattan, looking, apart from his trademark lemon-yellow converse all stars, like a person in disguise. He wears a floppy khaki sun hat and oversized shades. As he walks through the room, he peels off the sunglasses and replaces them with equally large eyeglasses with thick, retro frames. He yanks off the hat to reveal his hair, which is gray and thinning and bordering on mad scientist. He looks, perhaps, like an oddball character in a Todd Solondz film. The waitress recognizes him and greets him warmly, and he does the same. He's a memorable presence. Appearance aside, he sounds a bit like a Jewish grandmother, his voice comically nasal, his words unhurried and elongated by a childhood in New Jersey, an accent that 30 years in New York City has failed to undo.
Known for being an enfante...
Known for being an enfante...
- 6/8/2012
- by Maris James
- The Playlist
"Forget Kill Bill, Death Wish And Straw Dogs: here is a revenge fantasy you can actually relate to. At 12-years-old, Jamie Benjamin already has a CV of torture that would make Dawn Weiner blush: the hot librarian at elementary school tears up the erotic collages he makes with her photos; the cool kid at recess splits his lip open; Jamie’s nubile live-in babysitter only has eyes for an indifferent jock; and even the old woman down the street tries to mow him down with her motorized scooter (“he’ll probably grow into one of those hippies…”). It’s not clear exactly what’s wrong with the kid—he shows signs of autism, and a creepily over-affectionate mother might have something to do with it—but he finds solace in friendship with his teddy bear and the afternoons he spends visiting a pit in the woods full of bloodthirsty,...
- 8/6/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (Kevin, Mark & Parker)
I've been a fan of Todd Solondz's dark, even mean-spirited brand of humiliation comedy since Welcome to the Dollhouse, and the squirmy problems of his put-upon heroine, Dawn Weiner. I've hung with him through experiments like Storytelling and even Palindromes, in which he had several different actresses play the same character in different scenes. But he lost me with Life During Wartime, a kind of sequel to his bitterly funny Happiness of 1998. Picking up the story a few years later with some of the same characters -- played by a new group of actors -- Solondz has intriguing things to say about the nature of forgiveness and remorse, but says them in a way that alternately grates or simply bores. It's not the subject matter that is so problematic in this film -- though that includes pedophilia, suicide and the like. Rather,...
- 7/23/2010
- by Marshall Fine
- Huffington Post
As a kid growing up in Toronto, I was struck by the radically different approaches of Canadians and Americans to TV game shows. While a housewife was winning a catamaran, car, or European holiday on Buffalo's channel 2, her equivalent north of the border was elated to take home an electric mop and 30 dollars cash on the CBC. With hilariously low production values, tacky sets, suspiciously loopy hosts and cheap, quirky prizes, Canadian game shows made staying home sick from school an inadvertent lesson in absurd comedy.
Canadian Game Show Hall of Lame:
The Mad Dash
What's not to love about players in ill-fitting polyester racing around a lit-up life-sized board game that could've been made by Dawn Weiner's Special People's Club? Hosted by the Franco-Vegas and notably distracted Pierre Lalonde (he often forgot the score, and on one episode had to be told by a team he'd incorrectly declared...
Canadian Game Show Hall of Lame:
The Mad Dash
What's not to love about players in ill-fitting polyester racing around a lit-up life-sized board game that could've been made by Dawn Weiner's Special People's Club? Hosted by the Franco-Vegas and notably distracted Pierre Lalonde (he often forgot the score, and on one episode had to be told by a team he'd incorrectly declared...
- 2/18/2010
- by Dustin Rowles
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