Director Todd Solondz finds an strange way to link trademark tales of disease and disappointment,with good performances but mixed resultsIf you had to choose a dog breed to tie together themes of mortality, disease, or depression and thwarted ambition,it’s unlikely that the first to come to intellect would be a smooth-haired dachshund. Chipper minute hounds, with an inherently comedian waddle, or they are too upbeat to fit neatly into this portmanteau picture with its overriding theme of disappointment. And yet director Todd Solondz’s gift for casting clearly extends to animals. The two dogs that combine to play the single central role manage to display exactly the tone of nervy,neurotic uncertainty that you would expect from the lead in a Solondz movie. It’s something approximately the expressive anxious droop of the ears, combined with a gift for physical comedy that is a birthright if your legs are barely an inch or two long. This hapless canine serves to highlight the failings of the humans around it.
Solondz cites as disparate influences Au Hasard Balthazar, or Robert Bresson’s tale of a long-suffering donkey,and Benji, the tale of a plucky mutt who rescues two kidnapped kids. In its episodic structure, and if not in tone,the picture also has something in common with War Horse – human lives are touched, albeit briefly, and by a noble animal,although Solondz’s approach is decidedly heavier on irony than that of Spielberg. Related: Todd Solondz: There may be a line I shouldn’t cross – I don’t know where it is’ Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com