Mia Farrow and Selma Blair team up in new Todd Solondz film Dark Horse
Todd Solondz is easily one of America’s most controversial and challenging auteurs. His first feature Welcome to the Dollhouse gained him the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1995. Starring Heather Matarazzo the film told the story of Dawn Weiner and awkward teenager, bullied at school, ignored at home and struggling to get by. To say Solondz makes black comedies doesn’t quite cut it; they’re not black comedies as much as they’re pitch black comedies, but always with a distinct dash of tragedy.
Following his debut feature was 1998’s Happiness. Solondz continued to explore themes that most directors shy away from, rape, paedophilia, suicide, murder; it was yet another brutal assault on the ills of society, told with a wry sense of humor that proved too much for some audiences.
But perhaps the most controversial film of all was 2004’s Palindromes an attempt to tackle perhaps one of the most contentious issues of modern society, that of abortion. Taking a distinctly non-committal approach the film is about a 13-year-old girl determined to get pregnant. The role is portrayed by ten different actors, of differing ages, races and genders, including Jennifer Jason Leigh. This technique was used in order to deprive the audience of an emotional connection with the character. With no emotional connection you’re forced to judge the situation in a purely rational way – an audacious idea.
Solondz’s latest feature Dark Horse has already shown at the Venice Film Festival and will soon premiere in the UK at the London Film Festival, but what taboos will he tackle this time? Well there’s not a great deal known about the film yet. It does have a stellar cast though featuring Mia Farrow, Christopher Walken and Selma Blair, who had a small role in an earlier Solondz film Storytelling.
The film appears to be another tragedy, telling the story of Abe, played by Jordan Gelber, a 30-something loser still living with his parents. Working for his Father and still collecting toys he tries to change his life when local girl Miranda (Selma Blair) moves back into town after a failed literary career. With a marriage proposal born out of desperation the pair embark on a relationship that we can assume won’t have a happy ending. Sounds like fun eh? Well, no, but that’s the point.
Todd Solondz films are about facing up to the truth, about honesty, brutal, brutal honesty, and that’s either something you appreciate or don’t. If Dark Horse sounds ‘depressing’ then you’ve probably already missed the point. Black comedy is a niche genre at best but Solondz has always maintained a stoic distance from his films that belies any sense that he creates them with a specific genre in mind. In fact he claims to be baffled that anyone would be either offended, or amused by them. I guess we’ll have to wait and see which of these two responses Dark Horse will get from the viewers.