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‘Todd Solondz walks through the door of a Cafe on 12th Street in Manhattan, looking, apart from his trademark lemon-yellow converse all stars, like a person in disguise. He wears a floppy khaki sun hat and oversized shades. As he walks through the room, he peels off the sunglasses and replaces them with equally large eyeglasses with thick, retro frames. He yanks off the hat to reveal his hair, which is gray and thinning and bordering on mad scientist. He looks, perhaps, like an oddball character in a Todd Solondz film. The waitress recognizes him and greets him warmly, and he does the same. He’s a memorable presence. Appearance aside, he sounds a bit like a Jewish grandmother, his voice comically nasal, his words unhurried and elongated by a childhood in New Jersey, an accent that 30 years in New York City has failed to undo.
‘Talking to Solondz, his brilliance is quickly apparent. In interviews about his films, when prompted to make some sort of analysis about the meaning of his work, he’s fond of giving a sort of verbal shrug, saying “Look, I’m not an academic,” before following through with something about the “infantilization of the modern man” that sounds decidedly erudite. Solondz teaches film at NYU, and it’s easy to imagine students rushing to record his words—he’s one of those people whose casual discussion of craft is effortlessly mind expanding. He is especially likable for his openness and dry self deprecation, speaking freely about his neuroses and personality flaws. He has referred to himself as “socially maladroit” and considers the experience of being on set and shooting his films to be nightmarish, a constant state of crisis. “I feel like my obituary is going to read ‘Mr. Solondz collapsed on the third day of shooting,’ ” he joked, unsmiling. Still, he’s praised for being an “actor’s director” with a talent for figuring out exactly what each actor needs from him in order to deliver the best performance within them. He also has a reputation for being exceedingly hands-on. In an interview within the DVD extras for Life During Wartime, Shirley Henderson recalls Solondz spending several hours with her in a salon while she was getting her hair done for the part of Joy Jordan, making sure it was just right. She also spoke of the physical proximity he keeps during shooting, joking that if he could be underneath her chair at that moment, he would be.
‘The controversial content in his work has naturally triggered a fascination for many about the director and his motivations, but for the most part he declines to self analyze. Solondz grew up in a Jewish household within a middle class New Jersey enclave of ranch houses. The second youngest of four kids, he insists that he had a relatively normal childhood. “Every family has its complications, but I don’t think mine stood out in any particularly memorable way against any other families in the neighborhood.” Solondz’s mother is a musician who attended Juliard before marrying Solondz’s father, an MIT graduate. He also considers himself to have been a relatively normal, and certainly untroubled, kid. “I was a pretty easy kid for my parents, I think. Never got into trouble. Didn’t make a girl pregnant, didn’t become a drug addict. Didn’t have car accidents. I went to Yale. I mean, you know, I was basically an easy polite little boy. I don’t think I had a bad boy streak in me.”
‘Although Solondz reigns over the black comedy corner of the independent film world, he considers himself to be a commercial director. It’s his treatment of his subjects, he explains, that falls beyond the parameters of the mainstream. He emphasizes that, for all the social and political commentary inherent in his work, at the end of the day it is meant to be entertainment, and he keeps his characters and narratives accessible enough that an 11-year-old would be able to understand what’s happening. “They might have a lot of questions about the social, sexual, political ramifications and so forth, but they would be able to follow the story.”’ — Maris James, Indiewire
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Stills
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Further
The Films of Todd Solondz
‘Todd Solondz: I’m Judd Apatow’s dark side’
‘Why is Todd Solondz returning to the film that nearly destroyed his career?’
‘Todd Solondz Looks Back on His Career’
Todd Solondz interviewed @ Tiny Mix Tapes
Podcast: ‘Todd Solondz Explains Later-Life Childhood’
Video: ‘The Ultimate Todd Solondz Tribute, in Three Songs’
‘Todd Solondz’s Toy Story: Director Denied at Toys”R”Us’
‘Todd Solondz’s Influence on American Independent Film’
Todd Solondz interviewed @ The A.V. Club
‘The Monstrous Masculine: Abjection And Todd Solondz’s Happiness
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Other
Todd Solondz: “My Movies Aren’t for Everyone”
Todd Solondz on independent film
In Conversation with Todd Solondz
Interview: Todd Solondz, Jordan Gelber, Selma Blair (Dark Horse)
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Interview
from The Believer
TODD SOLONDZ: You know what happened today? One of those giant roaches flew through the window into my apartment. I couldn’t believe it. At first I thought it was a bat.
SIGRID NUNEZ: A water bug! Oh, those are awful. Everyone’s afraid of them. But as far as I know, they’re harmless.
TS: Well, just the idea of having one flying around your house… Then of course I had to catch the thing and kill it.
SN: I was reading in bed once and I saw one run under the bed. I didn’t know what to do. I knew I couldn’t kill it. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep.
TS: So what did you do?
SN: I took a double dose of sleeping pills.
TS: Oh, no! But what I can’t figure out is this: I live on the eighth floor. How did it get up there? Does this mean, way up in the sky, roaches are flying around?
SN: My guess is it crawled part of the way, saw your open window, and flew in. You need to get screens.
But enough about cockroaches. Let’s talk about “Solondzian cruelty,” a phrase I just saw in a review of someone else’s movie. Every time you make a movie you get hit with the same mud: mean, cruel, perverse, hateful, misanthropic, et cetera.
TS: Yep. Every time. [Big sigh]
SN: You are one of the least cruel people I’ve ever known. So what’s going on?
TS: I think people have a lot of trouble figuring out what I’m trying to do. In particular, people have trouble understanding where I stand in relation to my characters, and very often this gets reduced to me making vicious fun of them. Ever since Welcome to the Dollhouse, whenever a new movie comes out with characters who are portrayed as “geeky” or grotesque or who are humiliated in some way, someone is sure to compare them to mine.
One thing I want to say: I don’t like victim stories and I don’t write them. For example, I never saw Dawn Wiener [the main character in Dollhouse] as a victim, or intended Dollhouse as a victim story. That is definitely a misunderstanding between me and a part of my audience. To be honest, I am often unsettled by the responses some people have had to my movies, and that includes many people who like them. There can be a blurry line between laughing at the expense of a character and laughing at the recognition of something painful and true. But blurry as it may be, it is nevertheless unmistakable, and sometimes the laughter I hear makes me wince. “Why do you make movies about such ugly people?” I’ve been asked. Well, I don’t see them as ugly. And this is why when Storytelling came out, I said: “My movies are not for everybody, especially for people who like them.”
Another unfortunate thing is the way some people see me as dissecting my characters in some kind of heartless, coldblooded, analytical way, when in truth making these movies is a passionate, intensely emotional experience for me. I’m detached from the characters only to the degree that I have to be in order to write honestly about them. I admit there’s an element of brutality in all my work—it’s part of the truth about human existence I always want to explore—but the last thing I’m trying to do is put on some kind of freak show, inviting people to get off on other people’s pain and humiliation.
SN: But there are also plenty of people who find your attitude toward your characters empathetic and compassionate. They might not crop up as often as cruel, but I’ve seen the words tender and poetic and sweet and even spiritual used to describe your films. And I’m thinking how the portrait of the pedophile in Happiness was described by the movie’s producer as “nonjudgmental,” which is certainly accurate, but for me and many others it was also an extremely compassionate portrait, because of the way you allowed this character to fall to the very bottom, morally speaking, without ever stripping him of his humanity.
I think what confuses people is that the films are all black or—since I know you reject that description—sad comedies. If we’re laughing while watching these characters suffer, it can certainly feel—much as you don’t want this—as though we were laughing at them. And though I know you want to have it both ways, not everyone in the audience is able to escape the guilty feeling of having belly laughed at someone else’s pain. Then there’s the matter of casting.
TS: Yes. Something that drives me crazy is when I hear people talk about some of the actors in my movies, or about someone I’m considering casting, and they say, “Oh, that person is perfect because he or she is so grotesque, so disgusting.” And they assume I share these feelings.
And that reminds me. There was this one particular guy who interviewed me once and who really seemed to like me when we met. Then I read his piece, and he just went on and on, about how funny-looking I was, you know, and how I was the worst dresser, making me out to be this bizarre freaky little character, in a way that I just wanted to punch him. Then there was this reviewer who loved Dollhouse but couldn’t stop himself from saying the most awful things about the way I look and about the way Heather Matarazzo [the actor who plays Dawn Wiener] looks. Someone in the audience at a screening one time yelled “Freak!” when I walked onstage, and there are people who, without blinking an eye, refer to me as “the geek director.” All these people—to me, they’re exactly like the seventh-graders in Dollhouse whose cruelty I was portraying. And they don’t have a clue!
When I want to show the kind of meanness people are capable of, to make it believable I find I have to tone it down. It’s in real life that people are over the top. And if I have a certain view of how people behave in this regard, it’s because I’ve been a target for a certain kind of comment all my life. Perfect strangers have always felt free to say things to me in the street, or shout things from passing cars.
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Todd Solondz’s 12 films
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Feelings (1984)
‘Todd Solondz’s first film shot with sound, Feelings is a two and a half minute movie made as an NYU film school assignment in 1984. Solondz himself takes the lead role of a sensitive young man who finds he can no longer endure life without his beloved (Jan Meredith). Photographed by Andy Day, the film is set to Todd Solondz’s personal rendition of the song “Feelings” by Morris Albert.’ — Mohammed Alhnaid
the entirety
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Babysitter (1984)
‘This absurdist short film by director Todd Solondz follows a young male protagonist as he recalls the babysitters of his youth.‘ — Geoff
the entirety
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Schatt’s Last Shot (1985)
‘A young Todd Solondz stars in the 10-minute short as geeky high schooler Ezra Schatt, a neurotic, primitive headcase of the young Woody Allen variety. Buried under thick, unseemly glasses and an endlessly dazed expression, Ezra’s worst enemy is basketball. Unable to make a single basket under the brutal pressures of his vulgar gym teacher, Ezra also fails at both impressing the cheerleader of his dreams and realizing his aspirations of attending MIT.’ — Geoff
the entirety
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Fear, Anxiety, & Depression (1989)
‘Despite Solondz’ dismissive attitude towards his debut, Fear, Anxiety and Depression is a great and decidedly funny movie (though perhaps not quite up to later films, especially technically), which deserves to be seen, esp. by anyone who considers him/herself a Solondz fan. Since Solondz’ biggest issue seems to have been creative control, perhaps a “director’s cut” – though obviously too late to change many problems – would at least allow Solondz a closer representation of the film he wanted… certainly a proper (indeed, special edition) DVD release of this film is called for in any case.’ — toddsolondz.com
the entirety
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Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
‘The title of Todd Solondz’s 1995 film, Welcome to the Dollhouse, serves as ironic commentary on main character Dawn Wiener’s situation (mc domain-universe)-neither welcome nor a pretty doll (mc thematic issue-attraction), she is put in her place and must stay there. Dawn is the eleven-year-old middle child of a middle class family in suburbia, New Jersey. Older brother Mark is a high school computer geek who concentrates on his college resume (objective story focus-certainty); younger sister Missy is a blonde ballerina and apple of mother’s eye. Dollhouse is a psychological (os domain) study of what happens to those who have ideas (os goal-conceiving) about what makes them unique-ideas that differ from the accepted (os solution) norm. They fail (story outcome).’ — Dramatica.com
the entire film
Excerpt
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Happiness (1998)
‘The thematic thread that permeates Todd Solondz’s Happiness is deviant masculinity, and each male in the film is burdened with a particular sexual dysfunction that gradually comes to light through displays of perverse or obscene behaviour. Situated among them is Billy Maplewood, the adolescent boy whose burgeoning sexuality emerges as the primary focus of the narrative. In mapping Billy’s horrific trajectory towards maturity, the film’s project is an abject representation of the specific rites of passage that he must undergo in order to accede to manhood. As both an application of, and a re-imagining of Creed’s concepts, Happiness addresses its theme of abject masculinity through the generic conventions of the horror film, adopting a fluid strategy that adheres to, and then traverses the boundaries of her thesis. Masculinity is constructed as monstrous in terms of the very characteristics that shape Billy’s experience of becoming a man; characteristics that are revealed as inherent in the development of his sexual identity.’ — Adam P. Wadenius
Trailer
the entirety
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Storytelling (2001)
‘Todd Solondz returns with a characteristically scabrous dissection of the confused motives that can lie behind ‘true-to-life’ writing and documentary film-making. He offers two separate stories (‘Fiction’ and ‘Non-Fiction’) that unfold amid the sadly comical terrain of college and high school. In the first, a young female student has a stranger-than-fiction sexual encounter with her creative writing tutor. In the second, a struggling documentarian sets out to faithfully record the life and thoughts of an ordinary American adolescent, but finds himself irresistibly drawn to the exploitative possibilities of the material.’ — tsc
Trailer
Excerpt
TS on ‘Storytelling’
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Palindromes (2004)
‘The Todd Solondz problem will always be in our faces because that’s where he puts it. He doesn’t have the nyah-nyah attack of such punk auteurs as Larry Clark or Harmony Korine—just the opposite: I can’t think of a filmmaker who combines so much aggression with so little affect. But he’s one of the few writer-directors who can earn an NC-17 rating for a movie without nudity or profanity; his films are just so conceptually grotesque that you wouldn’t want to show them to anyone below the age of … I was going to write “40,” but that would be too glib. I actually respect Solondz’s purity of vision and thought Happiness worked beautifully as a sicko sitcom. I also respect his obstinacy: No matter how much his distributors plead for a slightly softer product, he’ll always show us the world through shit-colored glasses. Does Solondz deserve a rating of his own? Say, NR-DS—”Not recommended for persons depressed or suicidal”?’ — Slate
Trailer
the entirety
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Life During Wartime (2009)
‘Elegant opening credits, written as if it were calligraphy on a wedding invitation, yield to a couple in blunt close-up—unhappy, interracial, tearfully celebrating their anniversary in a shopping-mall restaurant. After an unfathomable exchange, he presents her with an antique bowl he found on eBay and, after reciting a guffaw-worthy litany of sins, promises to turn over a new leaf. The waitress appears, recognizes the sinner, freaks out, and spits in his tearful face. Violins herald the title: Life During Wartime. Solondz understands the misery of children. But does the filmmaker have compassion or contempt for his characters? Is it possible to feel both? Solondz’s sensibility has obvious affinities to such masters of cruelty as Neil LaBute or, particularly since A Serious Man, the Coen Brothers—but he is less smugly punitive and more obviously tormented. A humanist he’s not, but he does seem allergic to hypocrisy.’ — J. Hoberman
Trailer
Excerpts & interview
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Dark Horse (2012)
‘Dark Horse is a psychodrama in the literal sense: Much of it seemingly takes place in Abe’s mind. It’s a terrain cluttered with demons, in the form of feel-bad consumerism, fear of Muslims, sexual neuroses, hypochondria, paternal expectations, sibling competition (Abe’s brother is “marriage material” in every way that Abe is not) and relationships with mother figures that are both stifling and seductive. The origami-like narrative is precariously hinged on a trope borrowed from midcentury soap opera, but its dismantling of otherness is graceful. If “graceful” is not a word you associate with the auteur of Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness, you owe it to yourself to see what Solondz has been up to lately. Dark Horse is the most mature film of his career, and maybe the greatest.’ — LA Weekly
Trailer
Excerpt
Todd Solondz interviewed re: ‘Dark Horse’
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Excerpts from the 3013-3014 website course dialogue of the Global Union of Chinese Vassal States (G.U.C.V.S.) Cinema Academy (fall semester) (2013)
‘For this year’s Venice Film Festival, 70 renowned filmmakers made 60-90 second short films. Their concept: Future Reloaded. They that were screened at the festival and just uploaded to YouTube. Well, Todd Solondz owned this little assignment. Remember Life During Wartime? “Are you seeing anyone?” “No, I’m more focused on China right now. Everything else is history, it’s just a question of time.” Todd Solondz presents: Excerpts from the 3013-3014 website course dialogue of the Global Union of Chinese Vassal States (G.U.C.V.S.) Cinema Academy (fall semester) in form of a faux digital interface. A thousand years in the future, Cinema Academy offers a look back at the seminal works of Pre-cortical Implant Western Cinema 1985-2025 by such masters as Michael Bay, Mel Gibson and Leni Riefenstahl, as well as the ancient craft of “writing” and “filming” “stories.”’ — Animal
the entire film
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Wiener Dog (2016)
‘Todd Solondz’s new film, “Wiener-Dog,” the story of a dachshund who is shunted between five different homes, is many things at once. It’s a film of anguished tenderness and of scathing derision, a trip from childhood to old age and from suddenly disabused innocence to bitterly remorseful knowledge; it’s a film of cold experience and gleeful parody, aching empathy and crabby prejudice, affecting drama and calculated symbol and freewheeling fantasy; it’s a loopy comedy that bares human strivings, cravings, and frustrations, and a lofty one that shows people as humiliated playthings of greater forces and their own impulses. It’s precise yet wild, exquisite yet imperfect, and its flaws (with one or two specific exceptions) aren’t simply detachable from the rest of the film—they’re emblems of one personality, one world view, in which the noble and the base, the visionary and the vain are inseparable.’ — Richard Brody
Trailer
Excerpt
Todd Solondz Interview Weiner-Dog
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p.s. Hey. ** Jack Skelley, Hey, Jack. Yeah, lucky me indeed. Next time you go to Tokyo, it’s a non-miss. I’m heartbroken and shocked about Lahaina. I spent my summers every year as a teen at Napili Beach, staying in this little hotel called The Mauian, that’s still there weirdly, and going ‘into town’ to hang or shop or buy records or score drugs or whatever was Lahaina, so I was there a whole lot. Such a pretty little town. Unbelievable that it’s just gone. Really horrifying. I look forward to confabbing with S. and you whenever. Sounds like I have some catching up to do with you guys. Nice, where’s Thomas’s thing? Have book fair fun. And tell me everything. ** _Black_Acrylic, My pleasure, sir, obviously. I saw that Japan got whacked. That’s sad. I do like Sweden for unknown reasons, so I’m transferring my distant caring to them. You down with them? ** Misanthrope, I do know you like the galeries, and that is a kind of music to my … eyes. ‘Like a champ’: that’s what I like to hear. American English has a sweet, likeable side. Weekend’s a question mark at the moment, but it should be ok. The heat vamoosed, and it’s raining, which is my idea of a perfect summer day. ** Mark, I think it was to be in Kansas, yeah. Or wait, maybe slightly cheated in/near Kansas City, Missouri. You know Efteling. So great! It’s a theme park shaped dream. Thanks in advance for getting me into Luna Luna, man. A hit! Yay! Wow! I’m the subject of a hit! Crazy. I would be excited if I were visiting that Museum too. You’re going to have so much fun! Bring lots of sunscreen! ** Bill, Hey. I don’t know if McCollum’s stuff is polarising, but that would make sense. I’m the opposite. If I were a wealthy art collector, one of the very first things I’d buy is ‘Over Ten Thousand Individual Works’. It gives me the cerebral equivalent of a big boner. Oh, really, I’m more of an out-of-towner than you? I guess so. But, relatively speaking, as compared to other d.l.s here, I think you’re a jet setter. Maybe that’s what I was thinking. Or maybe because when you do travel, it’s usually to way the fuck far away. Awesome that you’re tweaking and practicing. Those are happy making words. As regards you. I hope I can shape these fiction things into things I’m okay with and that there’s enough of them for at least a chapbook. We’ll see. Looks good so far. Thank you, pal. ** Steve Erickson, I think antibiotics cam be slow growers, no? That’s my memory. No, I never wrote for The Wire. That would have been a total joy. I wish they occasionally asked writers to do an Invisible Jukebox. That would be a dream come true if I could do one of those. Sigh. Have you ever thought about writing for The Wire? ** Guy, Hi. Christophe is one of the weird townspeople who appear at the scene’s end and some of whom assault the two Krampus kids. He’s kind of the standoffish ringleader. He has one line: ‘We should take them back to town,’ He was one of the producers of ‘LCTG’, which is why he let us force him into being in it. Sounds like you’ll have raves at your fingertips when you’re in the mood. The interview was fun. We were interviewed by the great writer Derek McCormack who’s very funny and wise, so hopefully it’ll turn out ok. ** Cody Goodnight, Hi, Cody. No problem. Yeah, I grew up on the Twilight Zone. I’m sure it influenced my brain heavily in some fashion. You will let me know if I should watch ‘Kickassia’ because I couldn’t tell from your description. Good old Shaggs. I have to figure out what I’m going to do this weekend. Hm. I’ll do my best to make it a goodie if you do the same re: yours. ** Okay. Todd Solondz hasn’t made a film in what seems like a really long time, and I think this fact provided some of the impetus that made me want to expand and restore the blog’s antique Day about him. Have fun with it? It’s totally possible. See you on Monday.
Now available in North America 
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I love HAPPINESS & LIFE DURING WARTIME & like STORYTELLING. Finally watched WEINER DOG pretty recently and that was pretty interesting (there’s a funny brief Letterboxd review of WD that just says ” I love Todd but also fuck Todd”). Weirdly the one I can’t make it through (tried 2 or 3 times and always bail 15 min in) is DARK HORSE. Protagonist reminds me too much of guys I’ve known growing up and put distance between & ugh I just can’t.
Oh I found a used copy of the High Risk in a book store the other day. Already read /own your “Wrong” but there’s some other writer’s stuff in there looking forward to getting into.
*the High Risk anthology book
Dennis– Not long ago I spent an afternoon in Lahaina’s historic town square. There was an indigenous Maui arts/music festival. . Under that magnifcent Banyan tree — more like a family of trees — I turned-off thots & floated on the lilting Hawaiian guitar and singing. I’ll never forget it (even tho I turned off thots!) . The Banyan tree appears to have survived. Somehow. Today I”m headed to Printed Matter Fest. I’ll report back w/ wordz. Went to a related performance last nite at Stories. Joseph Mosconi of Poetic Research Bureau did cool thing reading along with his own AI generated voice. Thomas M’s FOKA review is on his Insta. I was moved. talks soon… luv… Jack
Dennis, I’ve only seen one Solondz film. I need to correct that. (Welcome to the Dollhouse.)
Yeah, English has its moments, no?
Oh, you and your rain, haha. Okay, I don’t like rain, but I will say that I get quite taken with a really hard downpour. I’ll stand on our tiny little porch and just watch it go crazy. For some reason, I really like watching the rainwater whoosh out of the gutters. I don’t mind either hearing it hit against my bedroom window. It’s probably the seemingly neverending steady rains that bug me. But those really hard thunderstorms with all the noise and lightning? Okay, I’ll admit I kinda love those. (Had a few the last time I was in Paris (with Kayla).)
I think told you a friend of mine is coming down here to take me to a BBQ joint for my birthday tonight. That should be fun. Otherwise, I’ll be hitting the gym and then spending a lot of time on my guitar. The new process is going good. Slow but steady. I WILL be competent eventually.
Never liked his films or him. He got into fights (Thankfully Verbal) with Werner Herog at the Pacific Film Archives, His first film was called “Fear Anxiety and Depression” It lived up to its title.
I watched Happiness again just a few weeks ago, after going decades without it. Located via this streaming site, because it’s nigh-on impossible to find anywhere else. Still holds up, and is up there with the greatest comedies ever made imo.
The new pink psychedelic Leeds United kit made its debut today, and unfortunately the team lost 1-0 to Birmingham City thanks to a last-minute penalty. I’ll try not to let it bring down my entire weekend.
Hi Dennis!
It’s great to see a Todd Solobdz day here. I’ve only seen a handful if his films (Happiness being my favorite), but this post reminds me to go and finally watch the others.
Thanks for the links!
hi dennis cooper! also love todd solondz. do you have a post office box? my friend and i wanted to send you a letter and a copy of our first zine if you’re interested. our email is [email protected] 🙂
As a Jew with a questionably depraved family filled of disgusting weirdos, Life After Wartime is such a personal fav of mine… Everyone hates it, though?? Wtf. Happiness is great, too. Love Wlecome to the Dollhouse. Such a wonderful transgressive filmmaker… That quote always makes my jaw drop – “You better be ready, at 3 o’clock, I’m gonna rape you”… wow lol. I might rewatch that movie today now.
One of the things I love about Efteling is that it feels like an actual ‘park.’ It’s not shoehorned into some tight space, but kind of rambles across the landscape. Dropping the DC zine into the mail to you before we leave. We’re off to the Book Fair again today. Rick Castro is signing his new book this afternoon https://www.skylightbooks.com/rick-castro-sm-blvd It’s pretty rad! I think you’d like it. Packing, paying bills and trying to prep for our departure Tuesday. So excited!!!
Good to revisit the Solondz day again, Dennis. I was also wondering recently about his lack of activity. Turns out the last film of his I saw was Palindromes. Will have to do some catching up.
Finally caught Rose Glass’ film Saint Maud, which I somehow spaced out on despite all the good reviews. Pretty enjoyable, and the Gang of Four song in the birthday party scene certainly caught my attention.
Bill
Hi Dennis,
I hope you are well. I emailed you about this event in NY I am guessing you might know of it or know of most of the artists there?
https://www.candicemadey.com/gallery/all/luxe-calm-volupt
I enjoy Todd Solondz’s films as well. They are dark comedies I went to school with a guy who looked, talked, and acted exactly like the bully in welcome to the doll house. I also had a friend in highschool who later studied film at NYU and when happiness was in theaters he took his first girlfriend to see it on their first date and she stayed with him through the rest of highschool so I guess they shared the same sense of humor? My friend worked editing TV commercials and I think the ocassional music video, and he had a connection to the industry from a relative but told me how in his experience “The film and TV world is all based on nepotism and who you know. It is not about originality or talent…” This was long before youtube, Netflix, etc. So I am not sure if it has changed? I know he made enough money with film editing to open up a restaurant/bar/cafe and must enjoy this more. Look up the film Bruno by Sam Goetz, link is here.
https://www.nobudge.com/all-films/videos/bruno
No he does not hate his mom and she’s a wonderful lady. The film was filmed in lower Bucks county and on the river near and in Trenton NJ. It brought back lots of memories for me. My friend is allergic to peanuts and was one of the only people I knew growing up who had this allergy. When I worked in education Kindergarten through 12 there are schools and districts that ban students from bringing in food with peanuts so I guess a lot more people have this allergy now?
The Best department store with the late 1960s-early 1970s flowers on the building in his film is where I bought my mother a waffle iron one year for mother’s day, or perhaps her birthday. We are very Belgian/Dutch and eat pancakes and waffles for dinner or used to. I still cook egg noodles for my dad for dinner with vegetables but he just wants cheese steaks. I get him one 1-3 times a month but he does not like my cooking but I know what he will usually not eat such as pelmeni/Wareniki, tortelini as a meal so I put it into vegetable soup, or kasha unless I make it like oatmeal with cooked apples and cinnamon. I have been getting into making yogurt and kefir to save money and because it is not difficult to make. I can let it ferment and then work on writing/editing here and take care of my dad and everything else. I have yet to make kvass I probably will eventually. I have a polish friend who made a dark low ABV beer at home once and it tasted exact like kvass. Does Yuri ever drink kvass, make it, or eat Wareniki/Siberian dumplings/pelmeni? I will make the wareniki sometime at home just to learn how to, but I want to buy cherries first and have them as a sort of dessert when I make the rest with mushrooms, cheese, and chives. I have an EX-Soviet/Ukranian friend who is teaching me how to make Caucasian food, yes his family is all safe they are no longer in Eastern Europe and left right when the war started.
I found your writing or actually it was a poem about the twinks acting out De Sade. It was in Idols and it was the poem about the twinks that go to Amsterdam. I remember when I first read idols I also read your interview about how you went to Washington DC on a family vacation and some other teen you met there had a copy of 120 days of Sodom and told his parents and everyone “My teacher at school gave me this and told me to read it!” which is hilarious as they wouldn’t have done that, at least not in most private and public schools.
Hi, Dennis! Thanks for the post, I love “Happiness” so much. It’s very cool how he reanimated “Three sisters”” of Chekhov. If some guy ask you make film from classic on your choice, what was is that? Also, did you hear album Htrk – Work ? They said in Interview- George Miles cycle biggest influence of record. Ps. Can you check please your Email? Thanks again
Solondz certainly fell out of fashion quickly. I looked up his Wikipedia page, and WEINER DOG was his last film, 7 years ago. If his voice as a filmmaker was less grim and abrasive, he’d probably the showrunner of an HBO series now.
I did bring up the Wire because I plan to approach them after my two reviews for September’s “Short Fuses” column in Artsfuse come out. The music I generally review for Slant Magazine and Gay City News would be too mainstream for them, but I have more freedom with “Short Fuses” and the reviews are the same size as their album reviews.
Does the Quietus ever interview writers for their favorite albums feature?
Later this afternoon, I’m going to a program of closed shopping mall exploration videos posted to YouTube at Anthology.
Oooh! Intriguing post. I like.
Hmm. I think a 10 foot pole is enough (but I’ll add spikes just in case)
How are you? I hope the weekend unfucked itself and now is fuckless, or wait, well I just hope the week is like riding a rollercoaster.
So!, guess what? Did you know that they used to powder surgical gloves as a way of donning? So this was actually very detrimental towards patients because it can cause tissue toxicity and those who are sensitive it can cause allergic reactions. They stopped doing this sometime in the 80s because of more innovative techniques to utilize. That leads to the question, Have you had surgery pre 80s? Wait, that’s a weird question don’t answer that. Let me reiterate! DO you recall doctors powdering their gloves? There might be powder toxicity inside of you!! (I’m kidding)
I like asking old people about things of the past because they are Either like “huh didnt know that” or “Yeah back in my day we didn’t have safety locks and dead kids were on milk cartoons” and then they say other things that are interesting.
I hope that didn’t sound insulting! Did it? Is the word “Old” insulting? or should I say “delicately aged” haha.
That sounds really cool. The collection of stories. I think that would be something I’d want to do in the future. Is there a theme? If you don’t mind me asking.
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Hi Dennis.
How are you? I’m ok. Just got back from seeing family. Todd Solondz is one of my favorite filmmakers. Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness are hilariously cruel masterpieces of mid/late 90s cinema, and he’s one of the most daring filmmakers I can think of. I think my personal favorite Twilight Zone episodes are It’s a Good Life, the little boy wishing people away into the cornfield is still haunting, and The Masks, where an elderly man berates his greedy relatives on his death bed while wearing grotesque masks. What are your favorite episodes? Kickassia was horrible. It’s an unfunny, painfully embarrassing comedy about men in their 30s taking over Molossia. I would not recommend it, but I find its director, Doug Walker, a fascinating person in terms of how strange and delusional he is. I love The Shaggs. I can see why Zappa preferred them over Tbe Beatles. Speaking of Zappa, I listened to his music, more Philip Glass and the Japanese noise band Boredoms yesterday and today. Boredoms make crazy music and I love it. I’m going to watch another one of Doug Walker’s features, titled Suburban Knights, so I’ll let you know how that will go. Have a great day or night, Dennis!
Have you watched Walker’s notoriously awful film based on THE WALL?
Hey Dennis, so sleepless night here. First of all, I was so happy to see the CLOSER news. Totally unexpected wonderful. Is it OK to ask if other books of the cycle will follow because you mentioned Closer was not available in the UK (I did not know) This cover I saw compliments so nice the beautiful first edition cover we all love. I can’t wait to read again
Maybe when it gets released you will do Closer spotlight post with exclusive stuff details about the book I always like to read what was going through your head when you were writing and loved finding out Nouveau Roman was the final key you were looking for. It made so much sense to me all you were saying about your influences when I read
I start planning my move to France like I am wearing a blindfold which is prob the best way to do it –
I say to my self ”dare start writing the France notebooks” The blue notebook about France has inside Pierre Clementi and Jean Seberg postcards glued
My new Set of poems were published. I have 9 credits now. I am thinking when I have a bigger amount to open website to put all my writings inside 😀
It has to be right though and happen organically
https://donotsubmit.net/set-of-poems-by-charalampos-tzanakis/
with love from Crete Yes to beauty creation
hey dennis – i picked a good day to come back. todd is my #1 favourite filmmaker. welcome to the dollhouse changed my life when i saw it for the first time, aged about 13. i think we’ve talked about him before, i remember bringing up how he’s supposedly working on a new film with rachel weisz and colin farrell. it’s been stuck in development hell for ages, who knows what will happen. anyways.
i miss the blog! my life has just felt so busy and chaotic this entire year that i haven’t been checking most days. i check now and then but don’t usually comment. i made my short film and subsequently premiered it in chicago on july 1, i was in love, i stopped being in love (it wasn’t sad, it was actually really beautiful), i got a cryptic email from someone i haven’t talked to in years, i’ve been writing a lot, working even more, and doing my best to hang out with people. and when i’m not doing all that i’m sleeping because i’m so exhausted from it all. i don’t know. it’s a mess. but i’m happy!
hope you are well. i have to ask – do the saf and wga strikes affect room temperature at all? probably not, as you’re completely in post now, right? how is that going? can’t wait to see it once it’s done
recently read family annihilator by calvin westra, who i met in chicago and had a really good chat with. fantastic read, i can’t wait to read his next book