Welcome To The Dollhouse

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

I absolutely love this film. This is an early work from Todd Solondz and although it's not as dark as some of his later films it's just as funny and heartbreaking. Dawn Wiener is just one of those cult classic characters. Her life is pretty shit but it makes for some painfully hilarious viewing. And her outfits are the greatest. I do love the early 90's.

Like Happiness this film seems to be unavailable in any kind of widescreen dvd release in Australia, which is most annoying. It's not the most visually striking film, it's mainly talking heads, but still the correct framing is always preferable.

It's structured exactly like those character study dramas I generally hate. But thankfully the black humor and the pace and characters make this so enjoyable, or horrific depending on your point of view. Heather Matarazzo is just fantastic.

And the ending, it's one of my favourites even though for some people it just finishes out of nowhere. I felt that was the perfect spot to finish the story, you just know her life isn't going to get any better any time soon and it's summed up wonderfully in those last shots. Todd Solondz continued the story by using some of the same characters in Palindromes and the sequel to Happiness, Life During Wartime, but I think this is just best as a stand alone film.

I don't have much bad to say about it, I just really like it. Go see it.