LIFE DURING WARTIME (2009)
Hey, anybody remember 1998? Man, that was some good times, right? Bill Clinton were still president in the States and had started to explore the many different ways you can use a cigar, the Y2K-bug had just started to worry people and Jesse “The Body” Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota. People were getting jiggy with Will Smith and Bruce Willis made an ass of himself by starring in “Armageddon”. Like I said: good times!
It was in ´98 that I last saw a Todd Solondz movie in a theatre and let me tell ya, since then a lot of things have changed. I remember that at the screening of “Happiness”, at least six or seven people got up and left in the middle of the movie. Someone muttered something about “Is this shit supposed to be funny? Fucking perverts!” and another one gasped in horror when it became apparent to her that Dylan Baker´s character was planning to drug and rape that little kid. People had strong emotions when it came to “Happiness” and so did I: I absolutely loved it! Especially the opening scene with Jon Lovitz where he does his monologue about how Jane Adams is “shit and I´m champagne”. I also remember that when I laughed out loud at Ben Gazzara repeatedly telling the people around him that he doesn´t feel anything, a woman turned around and looked at me as if I had just puked her in the neck. A lot of people genuinely felt that this was an obscene movie. And this was in Sweden, mind you! Remember, we were the ones who invented sin and lust back in the 60´s. We´re pretty liberal about most things but this fucking Solondz guy, he was pushing it!
But like I said, since then a lot of things have changed and in today´s day and age, I think it´d be pretty hard to find someone who´d be genuinely upset over what goes on in “Life During Wartime”, Solondz “sequel” to “Happiness”. I don´t know if this is a case of Solondz growing older and more mellow or if the audience have become more jaded but what is pretty crystal clear however is the fact that “Life During Wartime” is a very good movie! As a sequel it is somewhat unique: Solondz continues the tradition from his previous movie “Palindromes” and lets a set of different actors play the same characters. Almost every character is a recurring one from “Happiness” but they´re all played by new actors: Ciaran Hinds plays Dylan Baker´s pedophile, Ally Sheedy plays Laura Flynn Boyle´s Helen and Michael K. Williams play Allen, the obscene phone caller played Philip Seymour Hoffman in the first one and so on. I have to say that I had my trepidations about how this would work, but Solondz really pulls it off. Now, I haven´t seen “Happiness” in the last ten years but despite that I have a very clear memory of these characters. I guess that´s a testament to Solondz´s writing and impeccable casting. He managed to create almost iconic characters and the fact that he re-casts them here and gets away with it is no mean feat. Ciaran Hinds takes what is Dylan Baker´s crowning acting achievement (if you don´t count his snorting redneck from “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”) and delivers a magnificent, almost sublime performance. He manages to convey very much without much dialogue and the scene with him confronting his son is emotionally devastating.
Now, some might say that this one doesn´t have the bite and the edge that “Happiness” did and I guess I can agree with that to some degree. This one is more overtly comical and the plotline that deals with Ciaran Hind´s character and his ex-wife Trish (Allison Janney) is the one that contains the broadest comedy. The dinner scene when she invites her new boyfriend (played by Michael Lerner) and his son over is very broad but very hilarious.
Much time are devoted to Trish´s youngest son, Timmy, whose Bar Mitzvah is coming up and in the hands of a lesser director this is the kind of character who could´ve easily become as annoying and meaningless as a dick growing out of your forehead. You know how it is with these kids in movies, right? Nobody likes ´em but Solondz have actually managed to dig up a kid who stays on the right side of not being too disturbing. Naturally, since he is a child actor he has to have three names: Dylan Riley Snyder. Who in Hollywood has stipulated this rule?
If you are familiar with Solondz previous films, you know what you have in store: a darkly funny film, scenes of conversations, filled with some pretty goddamn fantastic dialogue. I think that what Solondz is so great at is that he manages to tread that thin line between funny, excruciatingly tragic and uncomfortable, better than any other filmmaker today. I was a bit disappointed with “Palindromes” but it´s good to see him back in form with this one.
A funny thing happened when I saw this at the Gothenburg International Film Festival the other day. You know, it´s always sort of a hit-or-miss with these festival showings. You can never be sure if the film´s gonna start at all and in this case they ran late. Twenty minutes after it was supposed to have started, the theatre finally darkened. So there I am, in a huge theatre on the opening night of the festival and the music starts. But still no credits. Everyone is completely silent and still (this is a festival crowd, remember? No cell phones here) and then the dialogue starts. Still completely dark. No one says anything and I start turning and looking around. No reaction from the audience. Everyone´s just sitting there, trying to figure out if there´s something wrong with the projection of the movie or if this is an artistic choice on Solondz´s behalf! No one says anything at all because let´s face it: you don´t wanna be the guy who starts shouting “What the fuck? What´s wrong with the picture?” and then it turns out that the movie´s supposed to be that way. “What a schmuck!” You don´t wanna be that guy and be subjected to 800 over-intellectual´s scorning looks just because you were too stupid to notice artistic shit when you saw it. As it turned out, there was something wrong with the projection and the light came back up so everyone started laughing nervously instead: “I thought that there was something wrong, didn´t you? Solondz would never open a film that way…”
But anyway, if you´re a fan of Solondz´s work, you´re definitely gonna like this one. It´s his best since “Happiness” but it´s not like it´s gonna convert anyone with a staunch anti-Solondz point of view. The only thing that I missed about this movie was the lack of the character of Lenny, whom Ben Gazzara played. I thought that he was one of the most interesting and enjoyable in the first one but he´s not included in this one. I would´ve loved to see what another veteran actor would do with that part. Maybe for part three then, huh?
Until next time: take scare!
Thomas
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Boldy