Todd Solondz is back after 2011’s Dark Horse with an anthology film only he can conjure.
Wiener-Dog starts
off with an upper middle-class family of three adopting a Dachshund. The parent’s son loves the dog to all hell
and sees it as another living being with rights, as the parents see the dog as
most people see pets subconsciously, as nothing more than accessories to a household
that may endure any abuse to conform to the hierarchy of a family. The Dachshund
is then passed on ironically to the grown up Dawn Wiener (of Welcome to the Dollhouse) who in her
loneliness treats the wiener dog like her baby and her link to widened
companionship. The third owner of the hopeful hound is a remorseful
screenwriting teacher who would rather sell s script than teach, being the butt
of every joke amongst his students. The final owner is a bitter grandmother
who’s disillusioned from the experience of being blind and only being visited
by her granddaughter years at a time.
Wiener-Dog is Todd Solondz’s most adventurously funny piece yet
while being straightforward and subtly delivering its point at the same time. Like
many of his films Wiener-Dog paints a beneath portrait of the real world, with
characters spouting questions and getting direct core truth answers in return
like lines such as; “....The breaking of will is to force character and that
force of character makes you, you.” Or characters spouting underlining phrases
that mark an unconscious social reality like; “I’ve always wanted a leash.” Solondz
also takes things further in this film with his use of appointed yet ambiguous
meaning with sounds and visuals, such as unconscious racism in all of us and
truthfully parody of what we think to be marital life and the next step in a healthy
relationship. Solondz also creates a tone throughout the film in which he has
become the master of. A tone of dread created from indifferent behaviour and
long silences accompanied with an abrupt end that genuinely make you feel the
only the worst is to come.
Now I wouldn’t say Todd
Solondz has ever made a movie that can be considered accessible but I would say
in the sense of cinematography and plot this is his most accessible film to
date. With bright colors and a story that allows hilarity and jovial touches
sprinkled throughout the movie, and not to mention a stellar well known cast,
this could very well be the touch stone of a Todd Solondz novice.
Wiener-Dog isn’t a complete home run ie; Welcome to the
Dollhouse and Happiness. However its direction and themes are important enough
and rare enough to be seen as a home run. As it reminds us more and more that
the world is as least earnest as it’s always been and our oldest, most contradictory
human ideologies will never change.
-
Maurice Jones
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