Films like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness established Todd Solondz as independent cinema's premier satirist. Blending a trademark black humor into atmospheres of grueling bleakness, Solondz repeatedly takes moviegoers into a bland suburban junk space peopled by the damaged, the neglected, and the depraved.
Julian Murphet appraises the career of the controversial, if increasingly ignored, indie film auteur. Through close readings and a discussion with the director, Murphet dissects how Solondz's themes and techniques serve stories laden with hot-button topics like pedophilia, rape, and family and systemic cruelty. Solondz's uncompromising return to the same motifs, stylistic choices, and characters rejects any idea of aesthetic progression. Instead, he embraces an art of diminishing returns that satirizes the laws of valuation sustaining what we call cinema. It also reflects both Solondz's declining box office fortunes and the changing economics of independent film in an era of financial contraction.
| ISBN: | 9780252042768 |
| Publication date: | 16th August 2019 |
| Author: | Julian Murphet |
| Publisher: | University of Illinois Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 200 pages |
| Series: | Contemporary Film Directors |
| Genres: |
Film history, theory or criticism Filmmaking and production: technical and background skills Biography: arts and entertainment |
Films like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness established Todd Solondz as independent cinema's premier satirist. Blending a trademark black humor into atmospheres of grueling bleakness, Solondz repeatedly takes moviegoers into a bland suburban junk space peopled by the damaged, the neglected, and the depraved.
Julian Murphet appraises the career of the controversial, if increasingly ignored, indie film auteur. Through close readings and a discussion with the director, Murphet dissects how Solondz's themes and techniques serve stories laden with hot-button topics like pedophilia, rape, and family and systemic cruelty. Solondz's uncompromising return to the same motifs, stylistic choices, and characters rejects any idea of aesthetic progression. Instead, he embraces an art of diminishing returns that satirizes the laws of valuation sustaining what we call cinema. It also reflects both Solondz's declining box office fortunes and the changing economics of independent film in an era of financial contraction.
Todd Solondz features in the following genres: Film history, theory or criticism, Filmmaking and production: technical and background skills, Biography: arts and entertainment
Todd Solondz is available in Hardback, Paperback
Todd Solondz was written by Julian Murphet and published by University of Illinois Press
Todd Solondz has 200 pages
Yes it is part of Contemporary Film Directors series