The writer-director Todd Solondz makes disquietening movies and this one is among his weirdest. It opens with the funeral of the dysfunctional teenager from his first movie, "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and then shifts to a 13-year old neighbour named Aviva (in itself a palindrome). She decides that the girl committed suicide because she was lonely and that the answer to loneliness is to have lots of babies. When she becomes pregnant (deliberately, NOT a rape), her horrified mother forces her to have an abortion. She then runs away from home and only returns to wreak revenge on the doctor who "killed" her child. What makes this film a knockout is that the role is filled by a series of actresses (and even one boy) who are plain or pretty, thin or fat, young or old, and black or white -- although not in that order. The logic of this is explained, I think, when Aviva, now played by the 40+ Jennifer Jason Leigh, has a conversation with the dead girl's brother who states that no one ever really changes -- what you are today, you will be tomorrow. The strangest section of this movie follows Aviva, now played by a grossly overweight black young lady, when she is temporarily adopted by Mother Sunshine who has taken on a rainbow collection of Jesus-freak, singing youngsters of various disabilities. It all makes you want to take a shower.
I'm off to a one-day FrightFest later today: five back-to-back horror films (there are actually six, but I won't stay for the latest). I'll report back after I uncreep myself.
1 comment:
and her world was so dysfunctional it seemed so familiar.
A fairy-tale from dysfuction junction?
Definitely need a strong imagination for this one. But the best thing? All those dysfunctional people had the best lives of anyone - if you looked at it in the right way. And the singing gig was pretty laugh along. Happiness out of adversity is kind of the whole feel of the film.
And I loved that line
"Caught any fish?" calls one of the kids at Momma Sunshine's? And the boy who's met Aviva winks, extremely exaggeratedly.
It struck me too - the reason the director gets all those different faces of Aviva. Isn't that like everyone? Don't we all have those different ages, different faces at the same time, locked up? You can only see one, but all the others are there - just like the final sequence of the film.
Post a Comment