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How on earth can you say that? The brilliance of 'Welcome to the Dollhouse' is in the way that Solondz creates Dawn Weiner as an unlovable human being - she is ugly, stupid, spiteful and petty. And then he makes you empathise with her and feel her pain. All through that film I was praying for something good to happen to her - despite the fact that in any other movie she would have been a bit-part, 2-d figure of fun that you wouldn't have given a moment's thought to. I say that is empathetic beyond the course of duty.
Happiness, less so. I'd agree it is a much more misanthropic film. But to me, that has no effect on the point that I made which is that the nature of the misery in Happiness puts other movies into sharp relief. Why is it okay to laugh at people getting killed, but not at children being raped? Murder is clearly the most horrible crime, yet it's okay for Hannibal Lecter to be made into a lovable hero, but Happiness is inappropriate in its use of humour? Give me a break. Plenty of people die in 'comic' ways in action movies. Solondz creates scenes in Happiness which use scriptwriting and directorial cues from comedy and farce, and then applies them to paedophilia in a deeply unsettling way, thus forcing you to question what you normally see as 'entertainment'.
But whatever, I like his shit, you don't - we're not going to resolve this, I just think your reasons for not liking these films are daft. |
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