How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 23 June 2016
A movie review of WIENER-DOG.Seen at the Sundance Film Festival: London 2016. (For more information, click here.)
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YouTube review:
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“It felt right,” Nana (Ellen Burstyn)
In seven films, writer-director Todd Solondz has arguably cemented himself as the king of comedy misanthropy. Forget ‘The Office’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’, his characters have virtually no one to traditionally root for, making them refreshing in a sea of the anodyne. He himself must have a fondness for his most famous co-creation, Dawn Wiener – originally played by Heather Matarazzo in WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE and mentioned as dead in PALINDROMES (is part of WIENER DOG then set in the past? Has Solondz done a FAST AND THE FURIOUS and gone for two timelines?) Do not worry, this movie stands alone. Familiarity with his earlier projects merely enhances enjoyment and appreciation.
In seven films, writer-director Todd Solondz has arguably cemented himself as the king of comedy misanthropy. Forget ‘The Office’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’, his characters have virtually no one to traditionally root for, making them refreshing in a sea of the anodyne. He himself must have a fondness for his most famous co-creation, Dawn Wiener – originally played by Heather Matarazzo in WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE and mentioned as dead in PALINDROMES (is part of WIENER DOG then set in the past? Has Solondz done a FAST AND THE FURIOUS and gone for two timelines?) Do not worry, this movie stands alone. Familiarity with his earlier projects merely enhances enjoyment and appreciation.
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Rather than the usual single narrative, or the overlapping of stories, WIENER-DOG is a portmanteau of four plots linked by a pet canine. The dog is merely a tool to hang wry observations of personality flaws. We are our own worst enemy Solondz continually states, repetition of theme, but not of presentation, never getting tedious.
Young kid Remi (Keaton Nigel Cooke) appears to be a cancer survivor, and his father Danny (Tracy Letts) gives as a gift the titular pooch, against the wishes of mother Dina (Julie Delpy). Remi’s perpetual innocent inquisitive expression and poor flute playing is a calculated attempt to irritate as well as perhaps turn us against his obnoxious parents. Living in a slick post-modern palatial home Wiener-Dog does not sit well for them in such a sterile environment. In perhaps Solondz’s single scene of self-consciously artistry, Wiener-Dog and Remi frolic in slow-motion to the soundtrack of Debussy’s ‘Clair De Lune’. Of course, the sequence is undercut by hound diarrhoea and a trip to the vet to be put down, where we meet veterinary nurse Dawn Wiener (here played by Greta Gerwig).
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Dawn, nicknamed “Wiener-Dog” by her cruel schoolmates in WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, runs away with the dog, seemingly quitting her job simultaneously. A weird road trip ensues. WIENER-DOG has a distinctly random quality. Dawn ends up with a heroin addict former classmate, Brandon (Kieran Culkin), going to visit his brother Tommy (Connor Long); along the way they pick up hitchhiking Mexican musicians who are full of despair. Subtle political dig?
WIENER-DOG even contains an intermission, normally reserved for epics such as LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and HEAVEN’S GATE. There are faux ads for snacks in the lobby. How many multiplexes would actually screen a Todd Solondz movie?
The next two stories involve acting greats, Danny DeVito and Ellen Burstyn. Both have a pet dog. The former is Dave Schmerz, a hack screenwriter and professor of film. The skewering of pat cinema should not be lost on anyone watching this. While the latter is cantankerous, full of piss and vinegar, whose granddaughter Zoe (Zosia Mamet) finally visits.
WIENER-DOG feels enjoyably wrong.
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