>One of the most disgraceful characters wears a t-shirt that says "I Can't Breathe"
Todd Solondz is my fucking hero.
>>71996227
I'm gonna get raked over the coals again but honestly, I can't wait. His movies are great.
>>71996227
Where are people seeing this? Torrent?
>>71996321
there's a trailer. can watch it on imdb or some such place. won't be torrents for a while
>>71996321
I live near his hometown and it was playing at the movie theater a few towns over.
>>71996294
>I'm gonna get raked over the coals again
Why would you? Solondz is one of the greatest American independent filmmakers and basically influenced a whole generation of directors.
>>71996396
I'm dying to see it. I really didn't care much for Life During Wartime but Happiness was great.
what is the significance?
>>71996607
It's a scene of three young (under 20 I think) film students bitching about an older professor and conspiring to get him fired.
>>71996656
i still don't get it
>>71996776
the characters are portrayed as vapid, close-minded, and incredibly vindictive.
I can't reveal too much more without ruining the scene.
>>71996776
"I can't breathe" is a Black Lives Matter thing. OP is from /pol/
>>71996836
I'm from /tv/, sir. I just happen to think young people who flood my consciousness with this shit are horrible.
more people need to know this
>>71996294
>>71996425
Solondz is absolute garbage and tailor made for people who watch few films but like to think they're arty.
He's laughably awful.
>>71997231
>He's laughably awful.
He is an incredibly empathetic sincere talent who isn't afraid to make a fool of himself. His tenderness and wit is always fascinating. You're just a pleb who will never, ever understand.
>>71997313
I've never met anyone who likes Solondz who isn't a complete pleb. The fact that you think he's one of the greatest American independent filmmakers is laughable at best and ignorant at worst. Who else would grace that list of yours I wonder
>>71997394
Richard Linklater.
>>71996321
>Where are people seeing this?
Cities that aren't garbage? It's been playing for a week or two.
>>71997462
Linklater is amazing. It bums me out that you have Solondz on a list along with him. Who else do you love? I just can't imagine someone who loves Solondz liking actual good independent film out of the states.
Anyone seen this one?
>>71997693
Americans? I like Jarmusch a decent amount, Woody Allen is incredible, Soderbergh's always been interesting to me. Lynch is a lot of fun. These are currently working directors of course.
>>71997837
also, I don't know how you could hate Solondz and love Linklater. I'd have to put their sincerity levels on even tiers even if Linklater isn't quite as angry.
>>71997809
Lets play the Doctor Dan Song!!!
>>71997837
I guess I meant independent directors. Linklater is the only one that qualifies so far and I don't usually consider him all that independent. He's pretty close to being relatively mainstream.
I dig Soderbergh, Lynch, and Allen to a certain degree I guess.
Has anyone seen that new Allen movie? Sounds like it might actually be good.
>>71997916
Well, Linklater is about as independent as Solondz really: Neither of them are tied to a studio and if you notice they jump from one major distributor to the next pretty frequently. Soderbergh is the same. Woody Allen might be a bit different because he had certain producers that worked with him for decades (until he outlived them) but he definitely qualifies now.
And that Woody Allen movie looks fantastic. Casting Jesse Eisenberg in the "Woody Allen role" is an inspired choice.
>>71997893
Isn't quite as angry?
Linklater never makes any angry films at all. Never. The only movie of his that could be considered even cynical is Tape and that is still nowhere near the same snide, sneering approach that Solondz takes to his films. Solondz has far more in common with Allen's recent output, movies that like to envision laughably unrealistic characters who are supposed to embody some kind of weakness, something pathetic or morally ignorant, and we can all sit back and laugh at them and think "oh wow aren't people shitty." Solondz's movies stem from his own juvenile bitterness, Linklater's are birthed from a deep reservoir of feeling and optimism.
>>71998003
>Casting Jesse Eisenberg in the "Woody Allen role" is an inspired choice.
They've done a few movies together now. Eisenberg is pretty much already a Woody Allen character in real life, so it works pretty well
>>71998106
>and we can all sit back and laugh at them and think "oh wow aren't people shitty."
I don't think that Solondz wants to give that impression at all. I think Solondz wants the audience to reflect on our own flaws as we watch his characters. Granted, we may not be quite as horrible individually as a Todd Solondz character, but as a collective, anonymously revealing ourselves, it can get pretty dark. I identify on some level with Danny DeVito's character in this movie, for example. Or Jon Lovitz's character in Happiness. I laugh at them, but I get them, too, if that makes sense.
And there is definitely anger in Linklater films: Slacker is incredibly frustrated at times, and probably the most "Solondz-like" of his output (it's also my favorite movie of his). SubUrbia is very angst-filled too (I know he didn't write it but still). He's mellowed out as he aged and that might make you see him as more "developed", and that's probably true. But I think Solondz can get away with pushing forward the same disgusting film because he always empathizes with his characters. I love and admire his empathy.also to be honest he is from my hometown and I consider him the pride of my state.
>>71997809
Of course. The ending was touching.
>>71997394
Great argument from anecdote, I don't think people watch Solondz to be 'artsy', he's a good writer
>>71998275
Suburbia is actually one of the only Linklater movies I haven't seen. I have read though that he didn't write the script and the general tone of the film is very dissimilar from his usual one. I've never really sensed all that much frustration from Slacker, certainly not on a Solondz level.
Movies like Solondz generally just kind of frustrate me because they seem so closed off and unhelpful. I mean yes, Happiness likely has elements in there that most of us can relate to but it's also so absurdly, ludicrously detached from reality that it's difficult to treat most of those people as authentic human beings. Also for the most part they're all so irredeemably loathsome that I can't really find myself feeling much of anything for them. I don't feel as though Solondz provides any outs for his characters. It seems like the intention is that we're supposed to laugh at them or cringe at them but I don't see what that really does on any sort of larger level. They just feel like very small, contained films that offer few opportunities for the viewer to learn much of anything beyond judging his characters.
Linklater's approach is far more humanistic and it's very hard to identify characters in Linklater movies that are actually people we would judge negatively as bad people. SubUrbia aside, nearly all of Linklater's characters who exhibit their negative characteristics will be balanced by positive elements that allow us to see that human beings are flawed, just like ourselves, and we can feel for them in that regard. With Solondz I think he just likes pointing out the flaws.
>>71998450
>They just feel like very small, contained films that offer few opportunities for the viewer to learn much of anything beyond judging his characters.
Maybe they're, on some level, cautionary tales? I watch Welcome to the Dollhouse, and I of course sympathize with Dawn. But then I also have to reconcile the fact that she creates a lot of her own problems. It's a sad truth of life: We create our own misery. People can dismiss this as an easy crutch to fall on as a writer, but as I said, Solondz manages to be oddly tender with these horrible people. You watch a pedophile plan multiple rapes in Happiness, and he's not portrayed as a remorseless monster as much as he is portrayed as a sick man who did everything right in life (good job, loving family, etc) but was still a pederast.
But yes, I agree that Linklater's movies are more "grounded" in human reality (Waking Life notwithstanding). Solondz combines his cynicism with surrealism. I think it's a great combination, personally.
You should check out SubUrbia. It's definitely not typical Linklater but it's still Linklater with all the trimmings.
>>71998610
>>71998450
The only Solondz I've seen is Dark Horse, and you both nail what I thought of it. It is meant to be critical of this spoiled manchild type of person, but he's such an purposefully hateable person that I can't really find an "in" to connect personally with his story. He's this fat loser and it's kind of funny and kind of sad and that's it.
I'm trying to think of a movie that deals with similar themes in a better way and can't right now, so maybe that's his key. He's the only one even making movies about these reprehensible people, regardless of if the movies are good or not
>>71998728
The Comedy? Observe & Report?
Anyone have questions about Wiener-Dog? I thought it was really great. A little disturbing but pretty heartfelt and a good look on human nature.
It showed at a theater last January (I was there in Utah at that time).
>>71998610
>>71998450
and Slacker was definitely filled with some horrible people: the man who runs over his mother, the deranged woman trying to sell the Madonna pap smear, many aimless losers who masquerade their lack of experience with knowledge. Definitely not people you *want* to identify with.
>>71998787
The Comedy, that's right. The same really out their types of people that I would never know existed if not for the internet, but they are humanized really well
>>71998811
It was me, this guy in his 40s, and this couple in the theater. Me and the old guy were cracking up throughout
>What about God?
>I don't believe in God.
>No, you go. You have to do your body maintenance.
> Isn't Mexico dangerous with the drug violence?
>Yes, but America is worse. It's too depressing.
>And this is the you who decided to leave better tips.
>>71998915
Where did you see it?
>>71998938
Montclair, NJ.
