
Todd Solondz’s
Happiness
was greeted with controversy upon its 1998 release thanks to its empathetic portrait
of a suburban husband and father of three who has a deviant taste for young
boys. Detached from the hubbub, however, it’s harder to discern the actual
objection to Solondz’s approach to this, the most incendiary of his sophomore
effort’s various narrative strands, as his treatment exhibits an almost
pitch-perfect balance between condescension and compassion, a mode that the
director employs throughout his ironically titled tapestry of misery. Solondz’s
familiarity with his New Jersey milieu lends legitimacy to his mostly appalling
characterizations, though his gift is one of tone, as immediately evidenced by an
opening date between quiet, nervous Joy (Jane Adams) and boyfriend Andy (Jon
Lovitz) that careens emotionally to both devastating and hilarious effect.
Whether with regards to Joy, her happy homemaker sister Trish (Cynthia
Stevenson) and pretentious literary star sibling Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle), or
phone sex pervert Allen (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and pedophile Bill (Dylan
Baker), the filmmaker finds a way to look down upon his characters while still
retaining a measure of understanding for their alienated torment. Cheap laughs
and disturbing desolation somehow prove ideal bedfellows in
Happiness, whether in the sight of
overweight confessed murderer Kristina (Camryn Manheim) retreating from her
gruesome deeds by scarfing down ice cream sundaes, or recently separated Lenny
(Ben Gazzara) responding to the company of his awful family by deliberately
ignoring doctor’s orders and suicidally drenching his meal in salt. Solondz’s
bleak worldview is at once amusing and horrifying, and in its climactic
confessional conversation between Bill and his young son, the film expresses a
wrenching, nightmarish agony over human nature.
I was around 15 when Happiness came to vhs. It was the first time i ever encountered Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Dylan Baker on screen; performances (and characters) that remain imprinted in my mind to this day. Great film, but not one i like to watch on any regular basis.
Posted by: Mark Eustace | October 26, 2009 at 04:17 AM