Sept. 21, 2002 - 2:14 am
this is a recent release that i had been vaguely interested in seeing for a few months. it's from director Todd Solondz who also did Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) and Happiness (1998). i still haven't seen Happiness and i'm constantly hearing people talking about it, so i guess i should do so. i don't think i enjoyed this one quite as much as Welcome to the Dollhouse, but it was still alright. Todd Solondz is definitely a talented writer, but i'm not sure about the greatness of his direction.
there are two different "pieces" of this film. one called "Fiction" and one called "Non-fiction." they tell two completely different stories. in "Fiction," a girl is attending a writing class at a university and has a rather perverse sexual encounter with her professor. she then writes about that experience and reads it aloud to the class and they comment on it. in "Non-fiction," the more lengthy section of the two, there is a documentary filmmaker who makes a film about a guy who is graduating from high school. the young guy, idiotically called Scooby, has no direction because of his terribly-principled family. his only thoughts are of doing drugs, listening to old Elton John cds, and maybe one day being a late night tv show host.
the one thing that i thought was really interesting about the writing of this film is that basically what is going on is that some type of story is formed for the viewing audience in plot of the film because of its absurdity, you're left laughing at the people and events involved. but then when the people involved form it into a story within the context of the film, meaning they write what happened to them or show the film footage to some sort of audience, they get feedback that feels a bit different. it's like the feedback is exactly what you were thinking, but it just feels wrong when someone else puts it to words. it's a very confusing script because it constantly makes you feel unsettled. like you're laughing at them, but then you think well maybe i was wrong to feel that way. this is possibly the first film where i realized that it was helping me to criticize my own perceptions in this way. very interesting.
something i considered a flaw in the film was the casting. it's like some really famous people were thrown in as side jokes or simply to showcase the fact that they could get a famous person to appear in their film. like Franka Potente's character was so bland, it really didn't require an actress of her caliber. and the use of Mike from the documentary American Movie: The Making of Northwestern (1999) was definitely out of place. i felt a little odd about John Goodman's placement too.
and with that, another themed weekend begins. this weekend's theme person...Claire Danes. the first film will follow tomorrow. and this will be all new films for me to see.