I find it interesting that this is classified as a 'comedy' under genre. There may be a line or two that sticks out as being humorous in possibly some dark-ironic way, but this is not a comedy. This is about as tragic a story as you can get, and it's the kind of movie that I know is (mostly, with a few flaws I'll get to ) a tremendous, absorbing character study, but not something that I'll ever want to revisit. It's an extremely well made look at what it's like to be a relatively OK person being kicked in the genital area for 90 minutes.
Heather Matarrazo is Dawn Weiner, 7th grader who is, to put it lightly, picked on by other students. But it's not only bullies - she is the quintessential 'middle child', so it's not just students, her own family either often acts like she doesn't exist (I almost typed in 'it' instead of 'she', like she's a pronoun), or that she's often in trouble or being a brat (notice a scene where she refuses to tear down her "Special Clubhouse" and the mother cuts up a piece of chocolate cake for others at the table). Basically her life is a hell to the point where she has one friend at the club house, and outside of this a) has a, uh, "gentleman caller" in the form of a white trash would-be rapist (Brendan Sexton is excellent in this role, for what it requires anyway), and her actual crush as a high-schooler who sings (sometimes) in her brother's band.
To say it's a jaundiced take on suburban angst and alienation is to almost affront people who are born jaundiced. Dollhouse puts its protagonist so through the wringer it's a wonder that she doesn't find a gun and shoot up the school by the end of it all. The problem with that potential problem solver - no, really, in the world of Solondz's brutal and awful New Jersey town, it would almost do the world a favor - is that Dawn isn't nuts, just put down upon to the point of barely being recognizable. I wondered at points if the movie was like a big test for empathy: can you find yourself in Dawn's shoes(?) Most of us have been picked upon (see Christmas Story and we usually know what Ralphie is feeling, not the other way around), but to this extent?
This is a truly compelling, morbid saga of life in middle school, which, as I recall, is generally one of the more brutal parts to endure in a lifetime, and it's practically as if we can see the hormones erupting inside of Dawn's brain; she's still a girl, but she can see the adults around her, or just the hunky Steve Rogers (I doubt it's any tip of the hat to Marvel by Solondz by the way, it's coincidence), and know that change is happening. All of the details that mount in this story are grounded in some sort of reality, even if it's one where everyone seems unfair and unable to see actual problems happening to someone like Dawn, and because of this the pain that one feels (or I felt) is excruciating. Matarazzo is so good in the role that it's hard to see her as anything else, and the cast are basically unknowns so it's more like we're there than in Solondz's two follow-ups, Happiness and Storytelling, where at least there were recognizable faces to go with the anguish and cruelty.
If there is a flaw that keeps it from being a totally great (if depressing) indie success, it's that when a turn comes in the story that is very dramatic, involving the youngest daughter being kidnapped, it's both rather random to add some conflict, and b) it ultimately doesn't change much to the story. That latter point may have been Solondz's point, that such a harrowing development is there but is undercut by Dawn still being invisible to all around her (she could run away, but that is drastic even for her). However it doesn't fit the rest of the tone of the movie, as it's meant to be a big deal, and it happens and then the movie... ends. I am fine with it being a scenario where, for Dawn and her family and (indeed) the whole school, go through some things, don't learn any lessons, and life goes on as usual - as it is in the real world generally speaking - but that one story turn feels inorganic.
I feel so critical of that because the rest of the film is so powerful, and Solondz's script is so sharp and yet doesn't leave its grip on the moral standing here: no crying, no lessons. In that sense it's the same storytelling philosophy of the show Seinfeld, only here the characters, generally speaking, are much more so unlikable and ridiculously ruthless, from the bullies of varying degrees to Dawn's own mother and Brendan, that you can barely breathe.
Heather Matarrazo is Dawn Weiner, 7th grader who is, to put it lightly, picked on by other students. But it's not only bullies - she is the quintessential 'middle child', so it's not just students, her own family either often acts like she doesn't exist (I almost typed in 'it' instead of 'she', like she's a pronoun), or that she's often in trouble or being a brat (notice a scene where she refuses to tear down her "Special Clubhouse" and the mother cuts up a piece of chocolate cake for others at the table). Basically her life is a hell to the point where she has one friend at the club house, and outside of this a) has a, uh, "gentleman caller" in the form of a white trash would-be rapist (Brendan Sexton is excellent in this role, for what it requires anyway), and her actual crush as a high-schooler who sings (sometimes) in her brother's band.
To say it's a jaundiced take on suburban angst and alienation is to almost affront people who are born jaundiced. Dollhouse puts its protagonist so through the wringer it's a wonder that she doesn't find a gun and shoot up the school by the end of it all. The problem with that potential problem solver - no, really, in the world of Solondz's brutal and awful New Jersey town, it would almost do the world a favor - is that Dawn isn't nuts, just put down upon to the point of barely being recognizable. I wondered at points if the movie was like a big test for empathy: can you find yourself in Dawn's shoes(?) Most of us have been picked upon (see Christmas Story and we usually know what Ralphie is feeling, not the other way around), but to this extent?
This is a truly compelling, morbid saga of life in middle school, which, as I recall, is generally one of the more brutal parts to endure in a lifetime, and it's practically as if we can see the hormones erupting inside of Dawn's brain; she's still a girl, but she can see the adults around her, or just the hunky Steve Rogers (I doubt it's any tip of the hat to Marvel by Solondz by the way, it's coincidence), and know that change is happening. All of the details that mount in this story are grounded in some sort of reality, even if it's one where everyone seems unfair and unable to see actual problems happening to someone like Dawn, and because of this the pain that one feels (or I felt) is excruciating. Matarazzo is so good in the role that it's hard to see her as anything else, and the cast are basically unknowns so it's more like we're there than in Solondz's two follow-ups, Happiness and Storytelling, where at least there were recognizable faces to go with the anguish and cruelty.
If there is a flaw that keeps it from being a totally great (if depressing) indie success, it's that when a turn comes in the story that is very dramatic, involving the youngest daughter being kidnapped, it's both rather random to add some conflict, and b) it ultimately doesn't change much to the story. That latter point may have been Solondz's point, that such a harrowing development is there but is undercut by Dawn still being invisible to all around her (she could run away, but that is drastic even for her). However it doesn't fit the rest of the tone of the movie, as it's meant to be a big deal, and it happens and then the movie... ends. I am fine with it being a scenario where, for Dawn and her family and (indeed) the whole school, go through some things, don't learn any lessons, and life goes on as usual - as it is in the real world generally speaking - but that one story turn feels inorganic.
I feel so critical of that because the rest of the film is so powerful, and Solondz's script is so sharp and yet doesn't leave its grip on the moral standing here: no crying, no lessons. In that sense it's the same storytelling philosophy of the show Seinfeld, only here the characters, generally speaking, are much more so unlikable and ridiculously ruthless, from the bullies of varying degrees to Dawn's own mother and Brendan, that you can barely breathe.