fedor8
Pedophilia, Solondz's lifelong obsession, strikes again. Pedophilia peppered with hot lashes of steamy incestuous insinuations? Even better, as far as he is concerned; that REALLY gets Todd's blood going. I can half-picture him (not that I want to) masturbating while he writes these pervy "artistic" indie screenplays. Could it be that this weak, ugly little delta male has been tortured by wet-dreams and lonely man-on-boy illegal porn films his whole adult life? Perhaps not; he insists he only uses the subject "as a metaphor". Solondz is a talented film-maker, highly original, and funny – when he wants to be. I'd prefer not to think of him as a pervert asking society to show more kindness toward child-molesters, as if Western society hasn't already lost itself in its futile/laughable attempts to deny the existence of inherent evil. (You know those bewildered Marxists: society causes evil, not individuals themselves.)Did Todd want LDW to be funny? I hope not, for our sake; because if this is what his humour has developed into, there's little to expect from his next movies. In that sense he reminds me of Mike Leigh, whose themes and style are similar. Leigh used to make funny comedy/dramas (a difficult feat), but eventually got too serious, far too pretentious, eventually dropping comedy altogether in favour of dreary, preachy drama. Or did I mean to say lazy? Drama is easier to write than comedy; any putz can invent characters that weep on each other's shoulders and expect the same from the luckless viewers. LDW doesn't have any moments that will have you laughing, or even chuckling. "Happiness", for which this is intended as a sequel (?), was both hilarious and original, a refreshing film when it came out. In hindsight, "Happiness" was Solondz at his creative high, much like Leigh with "Naked". LDW simply re-hashes the same themes, sans the humour. So pedophiles are people too? Who the hell cares. Quoting one of Billy's daft college pals: "child-molestation is so passé"; a troubling line that might just reflect some of Solondz's own devious attitudes.What's even more troubling, Todd might even be attempting to open our minds to the vague (and cretinous) notion/possibility that even terrorists might be as misunderstood and overly victimized, just like pedophiles. Certainly the posters of Che Guevara (a mass murderer: a fact 99% of the people reading this text are unaware of) and of a Palestinian kid standing in front of an Israeli tank, plus the retarded ramblings of the highly moronic pre-Bar-Mitzvah kid about 9/11 and forgiveness all seem to point in this direction; not nearly as rabidly and in-your-face blatantly/aggressively as a certain greedy buffoon by the name of Michael Moore, but it's there. Again, I hope I am wrong. If not, Solondz's decaying mind is enveloped in an even steeper moral and intellectual decline than I'd previously suspected. Still, it would be hardly surprising; the majority of society's more extreme misfits, outcasts and "freaks" are naturally – i.e. logically - drawn toward political extremism, and extremism in general. Just look at the higher echelons of Nazi Germany: as many sexual deviants there as the sick heart desires. Certainly most zit-faced, overweight film-buff nerds, riddled with self-loathing due to their sexual inadequacy and the shame of still living with their parents, are drawn toward Marxism, the other side of the lunatic coin. Perhaps Solondz got beaten up often as a child.The boy in "Happiness" behaves like a real kid, unlike the artificial Timmy whose reactions and utterances seem forced and absurd nearly all of the time; at one moment speaking/acting like an adult, the other like an imbecile. How predictable that he would eventually heed his mother's "advice" and scream when a man touches him. How utterly corny that his mother would actually end her relationship with Harvey instead of sorting out the ludicrous misunderstanding – which would happen in the real world. In fact, this plot-device was more worthy of a garbage TV-sitcom than a movie with such "lofty" aspirations. "Happiness" wasn't predictable – LDW was. Joy's husband killing himself: also predictable. "He knows that Bush and McCain are idiots". This, coming from a man who advocates understanding toward pedophiles – while using the "98% gene-pool incest-monkeys" analogy to subliminally justify sexual deviancy – this is practically a badge of honour for both of those politicians. The badge would say: "a deviant Hollywood depressive obsessed with pedophiles hates me". The scene with Joy playing a song on her guitar seems to have had only one purpose: to mention that "Vietnam was a mistake". Jesus H, Todd; that tired old left-wing shtick – in 2009?! That's the political equivalent to the comedic banana-peel fall. You hate war, we get it.Solondz has stated that the Iraq/Afghanistan wars initiated this script. "Life during wartime": you've got to be kidding me. I'm aware he's using the title to mean two completely separate things, but I can't get around the whiny/deluded suggestion that America-in-war and America-not-in-war are such distinct, separates beasts, as if shopping in K-Mart changes drastically when there's a war on. He ought to visit the Balkans some time. Or Angola. (In a time-machine.) Yet another clueless/naive all-war-is-bad-except-WW2 left-wing Western pacifist who provides no alternatives/solutions, but is quick to criticize all violence, jumping on the highly unoriginal Bush-bashing anti-war bandwagon. In fine company has he thereby placed himself: Madonna, Green Day, Sean Penn, Pink, Paris Hilton, and George Clooney; all intellectuals.Ally Sheedy (who's overrated) overplays it as if Nicholas Cage and John Travolta had personally coached her in the not-so-fine art of cinematic tom-foolery. Sillier still (though this isn't her fault) her character shifts gears without rhyme or reason. That character made very little sense, serving no purpose in the story except to give Todd a chance to have a go at Hollywood screenwriters (whom he presumably, and justifiably, probably considers sell-outs). Ironically, it seems Todd is heading that way too.
napierslogs
Dark, funny and tragic, "Life During Wartime" is like a satire of one of those dysfunctional family dramedies. But by creating characters that are just outside of arm's reach and having them say things that are more tragic than funny, it's more like it is a family dramedy than a satire of one.Joy (Shirley Henderson) is married to a drug addict and phone sex addict and she thinks she's going to cure him, instead she's off wandering this world on her own. Trish (Allison Janney) has finally found a "normal" guy and is raising her kids to forget about their pedophile father. I remember enjoying Todd Solondz's previous films "Welcome to the Dollhouse", "Storytelling" and "Happiness" (which this is some kind of bizarre continuation of – some of the same characters, none of the same actors), but this one was presented to me as if these are somewhat "normal" people but they don't do anything or say anything in normal ways.It is funny. To some people, it's funny in a laugh-out-loud way because the filmmaker is daring enough to have the characters say things which normal people wouldn't say. To other people, it's funny because it's a real representation of how dark the world is. To me it's funny in an awkward and uncomfortable way since these "normal" characters are saying such inappropriate things.I was left on the outside looking in because these "normal" characters are not normal, they are weird, bizarre and off-putting. Solondz was trying to walk that very thin line of laughing at the characters but caring about them at the same time and going through the same emotional turmoil that they are. I ended up on the wrong side of that line, where I nervously laughed at them occasionally but didn't care about them at all.It's not really straight-out funny enough to be a satire, but then again, Solondz doesn't really do anything straight. This is good writing and good filmmaking where subtle hints at the characters' fantasies become their reality, which become an indictment of the society that we live in – "Life During Wartime." As the saying goes, it's funny because it's true, but the characters are just a little too far from normal to be true.
nickrogers1969
"Happiness" was a funny yet very disturbing film. It's a very good film but one I can't see too often since some scenes are too weird. I wanted to see the follow up to that film, hoping it would be as funny, sad and chilling. "Life during Wartime" is quite weak. Having Charlotte Rampling in a small part did not help. The story took a long time to get going and then it was over too soon without creating any interest in the characters nor the storyline. All the actors in the new film were much paler than the ones playing the same parts in "Happiness". The only appealing one was Shirley Henderson playing Joy (even if I missed Jane Adams dearly). The one playing Trish was nowhere near as good as the original actress, but the part was not as funny either. Why make a follow up movie without the original cast? It would have been great to see them having aged like their characters. I suppose the actors from Happiness didn't like the script for "Life during Wartime"!
