There’s a lot of talk of the humanization - or lack there of – of the monsters that pervade the mainline of the outside world in “Life During Wartime”, the new film from director Todd Solondz. The director first made a name for himself by branding absolutely no subject too taboo to hold under his microscope of twisted humanity, gauging every topic from the overlooked sadism of middle-school adolescence in “Welcome to the Dollhouse” to the ambiguous, dark and sometimes hilarious corners of sexuality in “Happiness”. Both films maintain a certain level of mastery that solidifies credibility. Shot with an eerily humane blindness to objectivity accompanied by patient, steady pacing and razor-sharp wit, Solondz has uniquely pastiched portraits of socially distorted losers and misanthropes, whose richly dimensioned presense haunted us long after their journeys into perverse self-fulfillment. One does not go into a Todd Solondz film in the hopes of participating in some misty-eyed road to redemption.
His latest ranges from the usual dark, closeted suburban observations on everything from rape, pedophilia, suicide and murder, though on this particular outing, Mr. Solondz is scaling interests the director himself described as “a little more politically overt”. Here he places themes of forgiveness and emotional fortitude against the backdrop of a post-9/11 sense of paranoia that seems to have taken hold of the three sisters Trish (Allison Janney), Joy (Shirley Henderson) and Helen (Ally Sheedy), and the rest of their family, comprising a microcosm of neurosis and dysfunction.
A sound understanding of the color spectrum, from black to white, might be a basic operating principle that ought to be in place when dealing with themes of this magnitude. There is a strength of unpredictable fluidity from Solondz’s relationship with that color black - known commonly as the only shade with utter absence of color - and its adverse white, the collective blending of all colors, one that shocks, rattles, astounds and even caps off its defining moments with some troublesome humour. In this context, these colors would allude to the obsessive intricacies of their respective characters, like some depraved subjects of a pulp-filled cartoon. What made "Happiness" so swift in its movement was its observation of the ways one operates when in a state of sexually arrested development, and its horrifying revelation of how these people maintain superficial acceptance in a society fixated on certain accepted levels of so-called "normalcy". The result is often hilarious, but also fundamentally sad.
“Life During Wartime”, which presents itself more as a follow-up variation than a sequel to the 1998 masterpiece that is “Happiness”, knows no such bounds, and forgets that this blend of restless black void once served a purpose in compelling those who watched to embark down unsettling, yet fascinating corridors of empathy. Here, Solondz’s formula has been watered down to a tactic that is gapingly less effective: Just how much dysfunction can we follow, and how unnerved will it render us?
Our revisitation of the Jordan family brings us to their newly settled home in Miami, where the offbeat peculiarity of this closely-knit bunch now seems to exist as one big parody. Trish (originally played by Cynthia Stevenson) and Joy (played by Jane Adams in the 1998 film) have found themselves again in their usual trappings. Trish begins a courtship with Harvey (Michael Lerner), a man whose Jewish blood, professed connection to Israel and gentle sincerity give her comfort she feared she may have lost ago; "You're so...normal!", she says. Joy continues to be haunted by an old boyfriend Andy (Paul Reubens) who's long since committed suicide, but still can't seem to let go of his lingering resentment. If not emotionally, she at least seems to be weakened down here by starvation.
There is implication that their search for male companionship is some bi-product of the effect of their sour sexual and marital experiences. But most of that melancholy is feigned this time around, and exhausted nearly to death with the same stomach curdling blend of static communication that played so fresh in Solondz's original effort. In one bit of the film's opening dialogue, Trish has a frank and explicitly sexual conversation with her son Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder, in an incredibly precocious portrayal), whose naive concern for the mysteries of life begin to ruminate with his Bar Mitzvah ceremony approaching. For an exchange intended to illicit humor, the nature of this such scene has an adverse effect on its humanistic commentary, and the result becomes a disappointing exercise for those who might have been quick to excite over something as stalely cynical as this mock-shock-gag expo, described as a worthy companion piece. While Solondz's eye for this kind of exchange in borderline repulsion was so keen in "Happiness", "Life During Wartime" has decided to recycle what cannot appropriately be transposed, as the film begins to objectify the crises of its decidedly ill-fated characters. It's a shame, since they are - after all - a lost bunch of people, so obviously struggling with a considerable amount of angst.
Then there's the men.
The male characters in "Happiness" haunted us with a resonance in their passive aggressive disconnection. Bill Maplewood, played originally by Dylan Baker in arguably one of the most noble and uncompromising performances of the last twenty years, certainly gets a transformative revamp here. Ciaran Hinds, now in the role as the psychiatrist pedophile who shattered the lives and stability of his family years earlier, starts on a path to reunite with his son Billy (Chris Marquette), who is now at college, and now suffering the ramifications of traumatic stress that his father so consciously and tragically embedded in him. The culmination of that journey, however, feels rather insensitive to the events that preceded it, and ends on a note that's actually a little offensive given its circumstance.
I acknowledge that "offensive" is a slippery description of a film that features a pedophile in one of its leading roles, and perhaps I've overextended my critique of a black comedy. Hinds does, as all the actors do here, give a fine performance. And this is a film about forgiveness, right? Still, what can't be shaken is the feeling that "Wartime" depends on the bizarre humane window of "Happiness" as a crutch while diminishing that effect, and the material simply can't support it. One pivotal encounter speaks for itself:
Hearing a knock on his college dorm room door, Billy answers the door to find his father standing there, waiting for him. After letting him in, they engage in a discussion in which Bill questions, extensively, his son's sexual nature. What follows - a disclosure that his son does not have rape fantasies as his father does - suddenly turns into a line of questioning as to whether or not Billy is gay, and the question's response ("No") is met with a smiling sigh of relief.
If he grew up a pedophiliac rapist like me, Bill seems to say, well I'd have someone to relate to. But at least he's not gay. *Pfhew*.
Solondz's ambitions to wrestle with themes of forgiveness are admirable, specifically the juxtaposition of intimate family dysfunction and trauma in a post 9/11 world. But the film lacks the nerve to handle these characters with the compassion that "Happiness" granted, the compassion they deserve. Instead, a boy without a father works towards false absolution. Should he be? If Timmy forgives a father he cannot respect, who isn't there, how can he possess the capacity to forget? Or does he (like the film he's stuck in) just give him a pass? Revisiting these characters becomes sickly, frustrating and, well, unforgiving.
★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Cast & Credits
Joy Jordan: Shirley Henderson
Allen: Michael Kenneth Williams
Trish Jordan/Maplewood: Allison Janney
Harvey Wiener: Michael Lerner
Timmy Maplewood: Dylan Riley Snyder
Bill Maplewood: Ciaran Hinds
Andy: Paul Reubens
Mona Jordan: Renee Taylor
Jacqueline: Charlotte Rampling
Helen Jordan: Ally Sheedy
Mark Wiener: Rich Pecci
Wanda: Gaby Hoffman
Billy Maplewood: Chris Marquette
IFC Films presents a film written and directed by Todd Solondz. Running Time: 96 Minutes. MPAA Rating: No rating.
You can find this review, its supplemental materials, as well as other extensive film coverage at EInsiders.com.
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