Wiener-Dog (2016) - Todd Solondz

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

Saw this on Saturday and it's another typically weird Solondz film. It's an anthology consisting of four tales all based around a dachshund and his various owners. It's more sad than funny, but of course it contains some pitch-black humour. I liked the second story the best; it has some key characters from WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE and a brilliant sequence concerning a married couple with Down's syndrome; Solondz treats disabled people with the same kind of compassion as Herzog, and it's refreshing. The film also has a funny intermission (perhaps a dig at Tarantino) and the final 10 minutes are haunting and pretty shocking (much like his previous film, DARK HORSE). The last image will stay with me for a while.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

I dislike Solondz immensely. I get that he tackles subjects that others wouldn't go near, but he has the same effect on me that Larry Clark does. Not to sit on your thread, Matt, haha. I have a dachshund, a Solondz film with a weiner dog in it is an unpleasant idea.

[Keeth Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeth]

I like Happiness. And I saw the film with story about the black professor fucking his white students but that's all I remember (it was the censored version). I've seen the film after Happiness but I do not remember much about it.

I've seen Kids, Another Day in Paradise, & Bully from Clark but didn't care much for any of them. ADiP is okay; I remember fuck-all about Bully. Clark's photography is a little more interesting but I wouldn't pay anything for it.

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

And I saw the film with story about the black professor fucking his white students but that's all I remember (it was the censored version). I've seen the film after Happiness but I do not remember much about it.

It's the same film you're thinking of, STORYTELLING. It has two stories, the first one is about the black prof banging his students and the second one is about Paul Giamatti making a documentary about a dopey high school student. The uncensored version is disturbing because of the size difference between tiny Selma Blair and the huge black professor. I really admire how he chose to censor it; instead of removing the footage, he just superimposed a box over the two actors.

[Keeth Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeth]

Yes, Storytelling. I caught it on a movie channel. I just took a look at a crummy quality video of the scene without the box.

I seem to remember catching Happiness on HBO. I had never heard of the film so it was quite shocking & funny for that first viewing.

[JLG Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JLG]

just watched Wiener-Dog.

lousy movie.

like a shitty version/knockoff of Taxidermia

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

TAXIDERMIA is phenomenal.

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

like a shitty version/knockoff of Taxidermia

I was thinking about your comment and I'm struggling to find a connection between the two films, other than one scene and the fact that they're both anthologies. I think Solondz was more inspired by AU HASARD BALTHAZAR, because both films deal with an animal being shuffled around to different owners, plus I know Solondz has cited Bresson as an influence.

[JLG Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JLG]

never saw AU HASARD BALTHAZAR but i like Taxidermia.

Taxidermia is family thru generations.
Wiener-Dog is family thru the dog.

Taxidermia has dead bodies turned into art.
Wiener-Dog has a body turned into art.

Taxidermia has puke.
Wiener-Dog has diarrhea.

for me, the family style anthology feeling just felt like a shitty version of Taxidermia. especially, the bit at the end. that bit probably pushed it too far over the edge for me into Taxidermia knockoff territory. i suppose if Solondz said Bresson then maybe it was Bresson.

the style and the ending turned it into shitty cover of a good song for me

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

Although I think your comparison between the two is a bit of a stretch, I find it really interesting that it made you think of TAXIDERMIA.

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

I've always been split or lukewarm on Solondz. I was in school when stuff like Happiness came out and lots of bros in film classes thought he was so edgy and groundbreaking that it turned me off him more than it probably should have. Still, I think when seen outside of the US context his transgressiveness is a lot less interesting compared to others. Hell, the other Todd, Haynes is a much more subversive and interesting director and he actually brings visual interest to his films. I haven't really dug much of his work since WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE. His satire seems unfocused to me. Bresson is an interesting influence, I guess that could explain the flat staging of so much of his material but he lacks the poetry of the old French mystic.