I thought Dawn Weiner's funeral was in the first scene of PALINDROMES? Whatever, Todd Solondz has resurrected her in the form of Greta Gerwig, that's fine. She isn't quite awkward enough but o.k., maybe Dawn 'blossomed". Ellen Burstyn is in this picture for about 12 minutes. People are calling this a "dark comedy", I call it a dreary comedy. 3 and a half stars - I hope Solondz jazzes it up a bit more next time.
Digital. The path from his second feature to this one is that of an affectation, of a mood and a way that has become a mistake: affectation of an idea of irony, affectation of a discourse that has become boring by being so dazzled with itself. The path from a beautiful film to a mere scheme not properly achieved - in such way that the dog is forgotten almost throughout the film. Good to see again Burstyn and DeVito.
The last two stories are definitely stronger than the first two. The intermission is adorably silly. The ending is morbid but also celebrates the life-prolonging power of art (including a nice visual echo of the opening credits).
"Ain't it totally great that you have a new dog? What's its name? Cancer. Why...why did you name it that? It felt right!">none can rival Solondz's humor. That slo-mo high-angle lateral tracking-shot showing the granola bar diarrhea'd asphalt? LMFAO He jokes with everything. Remi laying on the grass looks like a wax corpse/Nana's nightmare./'What if? Then what?"> awesome joke for aspiring screenwriters & directors:LOL
A companion piece to 'Storytelling' more than anything else, this picture is just as uneven as that film. Also, why does every black dude in Solondz's films seems to play into the "oversexed black male stereotype'?
What if, so what? Solondz has been kopf-deep in weltschmerz for a long, long time; each film sinks or swims on the relative strength of each script, and, secondarily, the aptness of its casting. Neither is at its best here, which is frustrating, and depressing in a different way than it otherwise would be. DeVito and Doody are the film's finer pain-wracked performers, one anal retentive, the other granola explosive.
In Japan this movie is titled as "Tod Solondz's Puppy Tales," so there are audiences who're attracted with the title. "Wiener-Dog" is film which throws their face diarrheal doodle, in a word, this is directed-by-TODD-SOLONDZ-as-usual film. But I'm especially impressed with Ep.3 & 4 about misery & sadness of being oldage. It's devastating that in scattered diarrhea despair of life & just a little love become rotten.
These many years of bad encounters had made me convinced I despise Solondz. Like I wouldn't even shake hands w/ the guy if I met him (and I'm an inveterate handshaker). So imagine my surprise when the first chapter of this one elicited from me loud bursts of laughter. Even though I was watching alone. However, I feel like every idea Solondz had for this movie is in it: 75% of them garbage, 25% borderline genius.