Wiener-Dog (2016) Reviews

• A very dark film presented like a comedy

  Gordon-112016-09-05

  This film tells four stories that involve Wiener Dogs, their owners and the people around them. The film has nice bright sets, and the people look seemingly bubbly enough most of the time. If you look at the screenshots, you'll be forgiven for thinking it's a comedy. However, the stories are actually rather dark and disturbing. There is a child with cancer, a drug addict whose father just died, a depressed professor and a grumpy old woman. The four stores are equally good, they are touching and convey much emotions but still manage to be individually unique. The clash of the bubbly tone and dark subject matter is very interesting. Acting is great as well, especially Danny DeVito and Ellen Burstyn.

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• How do you write about a Todd Solondz movie?

  Dennue2016-05-03

  I went into this thinking it was a sequel to Welcome to the Dollhouse; I guess it technically is but it has greater concerns than letting us know what happened to Dawn and the rest of the WttD crew so adjust your expectations accordingly. The movie is broken up into 4 parts, each part focusing on a different owner of the titular Weiner-dog. The first part was my favorite, about a young boy struggling to understand his dog's place in the world. It is sweet and funny and I was incredibly nervous about what would become of the dog since I did not know the movie would take on a 4 chapter structure. The second part reunites the Welcome to the Dollhouse characters Dawn and Brandon. Greta Gerwig's performance was a little strange and there were some distracting continuity issues and cutting. In fact, the entire movie had very distracting moments of editing, usually cutting back and forth from character to character for each individual line. It's very jarring, particularly because the moments without dialogue are usually portrayed in long takes. There is an intermission, it is fantastic. The third part is the weakest. It focuses on Dave, a screen writing professor, who is struggling to sell a script. It drags on a bit long and ends with a punchline that doesn't really have a ton of punch. The fourth part is a bit more surreal, and feels more similar to his recent movies. It focuses on an elderly woman whose daughter comes to visit. Then takes sort of a bizarre turn in its second half. I walked away from the movie thinking it was great but feeling terrible. Overall, Todd Solondz continues to be one of the most interesting filmmakers out there. I feel like he's definitely making the kind of movies he wants to be making: quiet comedies reflecting our superficial, pathetic, and delirious culture packed with incredibly uncomfortable conversations and situations; I just think his previous work is more interesting.

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• We Have a Wiener

  co_oldman2017-01-29

  Anyone who has previously seen a portmanteau film and experienced the almost inevitable disappointment in spite of the involvement of an accomplished director(s) would be doing themselves a disservice by ignoring Wiener-Dog. Okay, so it's not a masterpiece but three out of the four films within the film are good. The lone hold out is at least an entertaining diversion. This being a black comedy, I might as well begin with the bad, namely the story about a washed up and weary professor at a film school. I suppose it's ironic to write a poorly written screenplay about a professor who himself writes such screenplays and is powerless to prevent his students from doing the same. The whole segment is a bit too meta. One wonder's whether Danny DeVito bafflement as to why he is appearing in this film accounts for some of the professor's evident weariness. Always a supporting cast member, the dachshund almost disappears in this segment, only to deliver the ad hoc conclusion, one which, to be sure, is an amusing and cathartic way of disposing of a half-baked idea. Ellen Burstyn is, as ever, excellent, hilarious as the aloof and world- weary grandmother. Apart from relationships to her granddaughter and caretaker that are sustained by monetary payments, her sole companion is her dachshund, whom she has named Cancer, a delightfully unsuitable name for a dog in an era where euphemism and smarm reigns supreme. Todd Solondz devises an ingenious way of confronting Nana with her regrets regarding how she has treated the people who were close to her throughout her life. Since the leap from director to visual artist is not great, is Solondz, in part, poking fun at himself with his caricature of a contemporary visual artist? Not without its appeal, the trope of an uncommonly attractive woman who, on account of her hopeless awkwardness, struggles to attract weird, greasy dudes always struck me as overly sentimental, the realization of a particularly improbable fantasy. Although it touches on loss and drug addiction, this segment is neither particularly black nor comedic. The director's portrayal of a couple, both of whom have Down syndrome, is uncharacteristically sensitive. A small gesture that concludes the story leaves little doubt as to whether its positive tenor is intentional. My favourite of the four films is the first, which is about a father who buys his son a dachshund to cheer him up, the latter having recently recovered from cancer. When put that way, it almost sounds schmaltzy. The parents lack of interest in training the dog ensures that the situation gets ugly quickly. Remi, the son, loves the dog unconditionally but his parents can't look past its behaviour, in particular its penchant for defecating in the house. While the parents' desire to be honest with their son is noble, Remi has an amusing habit of interpreting their rationalizations in the most morbid light. The Islamophobia of the mother seems timely and the director shows how her prejudice can be passed on to her son through a seemingly innocent conversation. The French folk song "Au clair de la lune" provides effective contrast or enhancement to a couple of noteworthy scenes. I appreciate that it can be difficult to obtain funding for producing independent films but the amount of product placement in Wiener-Dog is regrettable. I expect many viewers will find the ending offensive but it does constitute a definitive end to a series of narratives that were only connected by a single element. The director achieves a memorable if not particularly adroit subversion of cinematic (and societal) conventions.

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• Come on people, it's a dark satire, nothing more...

  dmitttri2016-11-27

  Seems like it's too easy to offend people nowadays. Seriously, if at least 20 users voted 1 for this movie, it is not about director, actors, story or photography. It is more about their state of mind, and some kind of emotional instability. First of all, this is a movie which has it's own style (moreover Todd Solondz has it's own unique style), which is simple, yet requires certain movie watching experience, and sense for slight surrealism. It was never intended to be artsy, au contraire, it mocks to 'too artsy' attitude... All characters were intentionally made like caricatures, in order to present their flaws and shortcomings in more obvious, yet funny and sarcastic way. But don't get fooled so easily, all of them reflects real behavior, which we can observe all around us: parents who make up idiotic stories instead of simply tell the truth to their kids, lonely losers with dysfunctional families, worthless but pathologically ambitious people, shameless nerdy hipsters, damien hirst wannabees and such charming creatures... Simply, it's highly sarcastic, anti-indie, somehow childish-style comedy, which may offend only someone who perceived it as a mirror... Ah yes, it's called "Wiener-dog" so everyone expected a warm dog story, and they all ended up disappointed? Then watch Disney instead.

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• I know how to spell Solondz and Wiener

  Karl Self2016-08-14

  Todd Solondz makes interesting movies about odd, unattractive people, the people you're trying not to be, while most of other movies Focus on idealized people. I found this hist most entertaining movie so far, which might be either because he has become lighter and funnier, or because this was the first time I saw one of his movies on the big screen. In general I'd say that I find his films are more suited to a proper cinema because it makes it easier to admire his perfectionist visual style and to sit through the movie, which is not always easy. Solondz follows an art for the sake of art approach that is oddly entertaining and fascinating. You don't get to see this stuff anywhere else. On the other hand, you don't come away with great moral lessons or anything. But then I don't want movies with moral lessons. I tend to get them from my mum already. Wiener Dog is a set of four short films about four completely different people (a young boy, a young woman, an aging professor and an old Lady) connected only by the successive ownership of a small dog. It suits Solondz's approach that he doesn't get to dwell on each person for overly long.

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