Review of Wiener-Dog (2016) by Candice Z — 19 Jun 2016

THE WIENER TAKES IT ALL - My Review of WIENER-DOG (4 Stars).

If staring down the barrel of misspent lives sounds like a good time at the movies, then look no further than any of Todd Solondz's films. From WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE to HAPPINESS to DARK HORSE, Solondz's characters ache for happiness but often resign themselves to the existentialist nightmare of their given circumstances. This is what giving up looks like.

With his latest, WIENER-DOG, Solondz completes his DOLLHOUSE trilogy, with PALINDROMES being his de facto Part II, yet this film feels closer in spirit and themes to HAPPINESS. This despite there being the existence of the Dawn Wiener character, here played by Greta Gerwig. Regardless, this film finds Solondz in very fine form.

Told as four short stories connected by the titular canine, who travels from owner to owner, WIENER-DOG begins with a young cancer survivor Remi (Keaton Nigel Cooke) who lives with his well-to-do but bitter parents, fantastically played by Tracy Letts and Julie Delpy. To make him feel better, Dad brings home a pet dachshund that Remi calls Wiener Dog. Of course, because Solondz likes to hold a microscope up to profound sadness, all does not go well with our innocent creature. This manifests itself with what is an extended and literally shitty tracking shot, and your reaction to it will determine your enjoyment of the rest of the film. The great cinematographer, Ed Lachman, who shot last year's CAROL, seems to truly understand the stillness and intense gaze necessary to pull off Solondz's brand of tragic humor, resulting in so many wonderful compositions.

When their pet proves to be too much of a handful for this family, and after Delpy's blistering monologue about the traumatic lives of dogs, Wiener Dog ends up in Gerwig's Veterinary Assistant's hands. A chance meeting with her old tormentor Brandon, here played with wry ennui by Kieran Culkin, sends her on a road trip. All grown up, Dawn seems lost in life, but still carries a sweetly hopeful disposition. They meet up with Brandon's brother and wife, both of whom have Down's Syndrome. Presented as the only truly happy people in this story, Dawn makes a decision involving her pet, who she has named Doodie (very apt in retrospect).

It's here that the movie really started to come together for me. By coming in contact with this sweet but nervous little dog, each character confronts their life's choices to decide what's next. It's simple yet should resonate with anyone who feels their lives seem rudderless or did not turn out as planned.

After an intermission...a real INTERMISSION complete with theme song and our little doggy traversing green screen vistas!...our dog ends up with Dave Schmerz, a once-successful screenwriter turned terribly unhappy film school professor. It feels like Danny DeVito has waited his entire career to play a character with such stillness and depression, and he's genuinely great here. Whether it's getting brushed off by his Agent or interviewing clueless students, you feel Dave's dreams crumbling with such specific vividness. In one great scene, Dave sits in on a class visited upon by a former student and now a hotshot young director. Skillfully played by Kett Turton, his cockiness and general douchery is all Dave needs to witness to know he will never make it again in the film industry. It's a world where the assholes win, Solondz seems to be resigned to saying. As he did with Jon Lovitz in HAPPINESS, Solondz has a real gift for giving comic actors a chance to show off their dramatic chops. With his life caving in on him with the inevitable force of the Death Star's trash compactor, Dave makes a surprising, startling choice with our little buddy quite charmingly on the receiving end of his plotting. I seem to gasp at least once in every Todd Solondz film, and this scene fits the bill, along with a good half a dozen other moments.

Finally, our little survivor lands with a sickly Nana, terrifyingly well-played by Ellen Burstyn, who says so much with so few lines, all while sporting a giant pair of face-hiding sunglasses, resulting in one of her most indelible characters. When her granddaughter (Zosia Mamet from GIRLS) visits her, along with her pretentious and philandering artist boyfriend named Fantasy, it serves as a catalyst for Nana to reflect back on her life. Without giving anything away, this sequence proves to be simultaneously visually astonishing, hilarious and truly sad all at once. Just listen to the gorgeous strain and heartbreak in each of Burstyn's "Hellos" to know that Solondz and company have tapped into a part of humanity rarely seen anymore in cinema. He may be an acquired taste, but I just feel so lucky to be living in a time in which Solondz is still given a voice.

In the end, we're left with two incredibly memorable images of our title dog. One is an uncomfortably long take that's very hard to stomach but makes thematic sense, and the other is a callback to an earlier discussion, and one that guarantees that Wiener Dog will live in our hearts forever. The film, about what happens when innocence collides with the dark underbelly of humanity, will stick with me too.