Todd Solondz is one hell of a filmmaker. Within his films, Solondz looks into the ugliness of the urban middle-class with deceptive simplicity. His characters are far and wide, with some of the most perverse and disgusting people to ever grace any screen. Not unlike David Lynch, Solondz wants to uncover the seedy underbelly of a suburban life. These lives are probably best exemplified in his 1998 masterpiece, Happiness. Featuring a who’s who of character actors, Happiness uses their established personalities in other films to subvert your expectations of them. In his latest film, Wiener-Dog, the director uses everything in his power to craft a unique story only he could tell. And the only thing tying everything together is a little dog.
Wiener-Dog uses the titular canine as a loose tool between these four stories that feature a variety of typical Solondz characters. The first story focuses on the family that adopts the dog. The marvelous Julie Delpy is the matriarch of the small family. They are rounded out by her husband, played by actor/playwright Tracy Letts, and newcomer Keaton Nigel Cooke as their son. Probably the best story of the four, Delpy truly steals the show as a cruel, but well-meaning mother teaching her son about the responsibilities of having a dog. Among these lessons is a horrific fable involving the rape of a dog and it’s played for all the uncomfortable humor they could get out of it. Now we’re getting into what a Solondz movie is like.
Solondz likes to revisit the past. His 2009 film, Life During Wartime, continued to look at the lives of his characters from Happiness 10 years later. He does this again with his second story starring Greta Gerwig as Dawn Wiener, the lead character from his breakout film, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Played by a different actress this time round, Wiener is the same kind of pathetic character from the first film, but seems to have lost a lot of the selfishness previously seen. This is a matured character, to a point. She runs into former crush (and former attempted rapist of Dawn), Brandon, played by Kieran Culkin. They decide to go on a road trip in search of something that Brandon keeps close to the chest. This story is surprisingly sweet and tender despite the nature of the duo’s relationship. And the direction the story goes never feels forced. Probably the happiest portion of any Solondz film that I’ve ever seen.
Wiener-Dog doesn’t take long to get back to the cruelty the director is known for. Danny DeVito plays Solondz’s surrogate, Dave Schmerz. A college teacher known for being incredibly grumpy, Schmerz isn’t satisfied with where he is in life. And that’s about the purpose of the story. The weakest of the four, this tale fails to say anything interesting within the context of the rest of the film. It comes across as an old man complaining about trying to get movies made. While there are still great moments, it can’t help but feel rather pointless in the context of everything.
We end on the note of death. Ellen Burstyn plays Nana to Zosia Mamet‘s Zoe. Focused on a rare get-together between the two, Zoe brings her new boyfriend, Fantasy, into the fray. It’s obvious from the outset that none of the people particularly want to be around each other, but there are ulterior motives. Burstyn kills it as the slowly suffering senior. Nailing the sadness of solitude, Burstyn puts on a no bullshit attitude when she needs to and can pull out the vulnerability at the exact right moments. Within the span of 20 minutes, a full character is formed. This final story is where the tragedy truly comes into play and transforms the movie into something else.
While often humorous, Wiener-Dog is just as emotional as the best of them. Solondz is able to write these vulnerable characters stuck in a situation they’re not sure how to free themselves of. These characters are no different. I’m not sure if this is my favorite Solondz film, but it’s certainly in the running. Life is fleeting and full of moments to regret. These characters are shining examples of that. Do we move past these moments and live? Or do we spend the rest of our lives regretting them? Solondz doesn’t plan on telling you. That’s for you to decide.