Film: Life During Wartime (Solondz' sequel to Happiness)

[TheDeceased]

From the first five minutes, the pre-credit sequence, you know you're in for a treat. Any fans of Todd Solondz or Paul Ruebens (Pee Wee Herman fame) should check this out. It is the unofficial sequel to "Happiness" and (IMO) Solondz fifth consecutive masterpiece.

After "Palindromes", (which he invested and lost a substantial amount of his life savings) a lot of people said that he would never work again - but here he is with another mind fuck of a film.

"Life During Wartime" is a quasi-sequel to "Happiness". If you expect to see Philip Seymour Hoffman, think again. Characters are re-arranged and re-cast. Situations contradict each other. If you thought "Palindromes" was too weird, then (maybe) don't bother.

It's a strange film. A strange, beautiful film.

4.5 (almost 5) /5

Anyone seen it? (and what did you think?)

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

i quickly scrolled down to avoid accidently reading any of your post (i hate knowing anything about a movie before I watch it besides who directed it and when), and I am not going to click on this thread again until i see the movie, but I am really looking forward to seeing this. I am a huge Todd fan and have seen his other . Ill be back to this thread as soon as Netflix gets it in. I added it to my dvd queue almost a year ago, and they still dont have it. I wish they would get Fear, Anxiety, and Depression too, but that is not even on their "Save" list.

 

[Jamshyd]

Every gay guy I know is head over heals over Solondz.

I should check him out one day to see what its all about... and maybe find a new pickup line or two...

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

^Interesting. A father asks his child if he would like to be shown how to make oneself cum. You know, "Well, you know how sometimes your penis gets erect? Well, sometimes it gets so excited that a sticky milky substance shoots out... blah, blah, blah... Do you want me to… show you?" You could try variations on that line.

It was on movies OnDemand, so I sucked it up and supported that rip-off system--subscription services like netflix are the way to go. I need to watch it again. I spent the first half struggling with the changes in cast and trying to remember how Happiness ended for everyone.

Spoiler: Happiness and Life During

I could not figure out how the pedophile father came back to life, but after pausing and doing some online research I remembered he only is killed in the screenplay, not the movie. Though Seymour's character being an ex-crackhead/thug was new.

Even though I think I will like it more after watching it again--pause free and more used to the characters' new portrayers--it was no Happiness. The cast was certainly not as great, no doubt. I liked them though.

After "Palindromes", (which he invested and lost a substantial amount of his life savings) a lot of people said that he would never work again

^People said that? It would be fucking horrible if Solondz stopped making movies. Though I think he should have left Happiness as it was. For the most part, Life During Wartime feels too much like an epilogue, not a full story of equal worth. Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness are of so much greatness though. I'd watch 50 near misses for another of that caliber. I need to find the Anxiety, Depression, Whatever one somewhere.

The re-casting was interesting. I would expect that from Solondz. It was impressive how similar they all felt, despite being played by completely different people. But in the most successful portrayals, I feel like a real part of the actor(ess) goes into the character, making it more believable by mixing a lie with some truth; for the first half of the movie it felt like the new actors and actresses were trying their hardest to completely be the characters from Happiness, minus Allen.

It's rough watching a new movie from a director you are crazy about. So many expectations in the way. Especially with a sequel. I'm certainly not ready to say how many stars.

I loved the closing line.

 

[TheDeceased]

Agreed that it's not quite up to scratch with Happiness (or Storytelling), which is why it lost half a star for me. It's (somehow) less accessible. I was in a perfect mood when I watched it.

^People said that? It would be fucking horrible if Solondz stopped making movies.

He struggled to get the funding for Palindromes. He's not exactly trying to win over investors with commercially viable ideas. He's getting weirder and weirder. Life During Wartime was an odd film, (and as I said not as good as some of his previous efforts) but in some ways I could see how he's matured as a director since Happiness. Visually, the film is an improvement over Happiness and some of the recasting decisions were genius.

I don't often think that sequels are necessary, but this one didn't bother me in the slightest. In fact, I'd be happy if he made it into a trilogy.

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

^Life During Wartime certainly left yet another as an option. If he does do another, hopefully he gives himself a few movies in-between to change as a person, as he did for Happiness and Life During Wartime.

Apparently we will be seeing Dark Horse next, whatever that ends up being.

 

[TheDeceased]

Every gay guy I know is head over heals over Solondz.

I should check him out one day to see what its all about... and maybe find a new pickup line or two...

When I first read this comment, I was baffled. While there are occasionally gay themes and characters in his films, they aren't gay films. I don't think the protagonist in any of his films have been gay... So I was wondering why he would be so popular with the gay community. Then I came across this interview:

Interviewer: Do you take into account gay viewers?

Todd Solondz: First I have to please myself. But I’ve always instinctively felt that the gay audience would respond to my work -- after I first learned that there was anyone responding. So much is about feeling marginalized and having outsider status and the failure to become accepted and so forth, and how that can shape and either empower or distort one’s view of the world. Look, I actually have no particular interest in pedophilia, but as a metaphor for what is most demonized and most ostracized and loathed and feared, it speaks close to me, to what I want to express. I’m always actually grateful that I haven’t been attacked by the gay audience because they have enough attacks as it is. Everyone just assumes that a gay teacher is going to rape a child, when in fact -- as gays and others who are informed certainly know -- most pedophiles are in fact heterosexual. But I think a lot of the humor is accessible to the gay audience.

http://out.com/detail.asp?id=27199

Interesting.

(Though I'm not sure if you're going to get a single pick up line out of his filmography.)