This story revolves around Joy (Shirley Henderson - my faves were Trainspotting (1996), Topsy Turvy (1999), and Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)) and Trish (Allison Janney - probably best known for The West Wing, she had some great performances in Big Night (1996), The Ice Storm (1997), American Beauty (1999), Juno (2007), and Away We Go), still in denial about their sordid lives, Trish's husband Bill (Ciarán Hinds - this year's winner of a Career Achievement Award at the Dublin International Film Festival, he was in the excellent The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Circle of Friends (1995), Oscar and Lucinda (1997), Road to Perdition (2002), Margot at the Wedding (2007), and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day), and Trish's kids, Timmy, Chloe, and Billy, now 8 or so years older.
I don't want to give away the plot of the first one, and this one can stand alone anyway, but it is interesting what Solondz chose to emphasize and what he left out. Here's another reviewer's line that I wish I had written: "Solondz treats his characters with all the compassion of a child frying ants with a magnifying glass," Colin Covert in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, who did not like the movie. We like anti-heroes and awkward situations. That's what made it fun for us. We loved Trish's dreadful parenting (the scenes with young Chloe are priceless).
One in-joke that I did get was the late appearance of the character Mark Weiner, from Solondz' brilliant first fiction feature, Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) (apparently he regrets an early documentary and would leave it off his resumé if imdb would let him). I had forgotten that Mark was also in Solondz' baffling Palindromes (2004), where the protagonist Aviva (her name is a palindrome) is played by ten different actors (of varying races, ages, and genders) in the same movie. I didn't know Solondz was setting us up for the casting changes in this one. His other movie, Storytelling (2001), has some serious ant-frying, especially a scene that apparently was blocked by a red box on the screen for some showings. I don't remember seeing a red box, but then, I saw it in L.A. before I moved. Maybe there was less censorship in Tinsel Town in those days.
Life During Wartime is the name of a seminal Talking Heads song. But, in this movie, as in Dollhouse and Happiness, there is an original title song sung by a character with a guitar. Another in-joke. Here's the title track as sung by Devendra Banhart and Beck over the credits (Henderson also sings it during wartime, er, the movie).
In case you're interested, here are the casting changes from Happiness to Life During Wartime:
Joy: now Shirley Henderson, was Jane Adams.
Allen: now Michael K. Williams, was Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Trish: now Allison Janney, was Cynthia Stevenson.
Bill: now Ciarán Hinds, was Dylan Baker.
Timmy: now Dylan Riley (with beautifully thick eyelashes), was Snyder Justin Elvin.
Chloe: now Emma Hinz, was Lila Glantzman-Leib.
Billy: now Chris Marquette, was Rufus Read.
Helen (the other sister): now Ally Sheedy, was Lara Flynn Boyle.
Andy: now Paul Reubens (AKA Pee-wee Herman), was Jon Lovitz.
Mona (the mom): now Renée Taylor, was Louise Lasser (the dad was played by Ben Gazzara).
Mark Weiner: now Rich Pecci, was Matthew Faber.
Former child actress Gaby Hoffman (Field of Dreams at age 7 in 1989, Everyone Says I Love You in 1996, and more) has a cameo as Billy's girlfriend Wanda.
Though we had a great time, this movie is not for everyone, and definitely not for children. On rottentomatoes 69% of critics liked it and only 50% of users. One needs not to run screaming from the room at the suggestion of what Trish calls "sicko-pervy" behavior. And we, who stay in our seats, are Solondz' core audience.
One in-joke that I did get was the late appearance of the character Mark Weiner, from Solondz' brilliant first fiction feature, Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) (apparently he regrets an early documentary and would leave it off his resumé if imdb would let him). I had forgotten that Mark was also in Solondz' baffling Palindromes (2004), where the protagonist Aviva (her name is a palindrome) is played by ten different actors (of varying races, ages, and genders) in the same movie. I didn't know Solondz was setting us up for the casting changes in this one. His other movie, Storytelling (2001), has some serious ant-frying, especially a scene that apparently was blocked by a red box on the screen for some showings. I don't remember seeing a red box, but then, I saw it in L.A. before I moved. Maybe there was less censorship in Tinsel Town in those days.
Life During Wartime is the name of a seminal Talking Heads song. But, in this movie, as in Dollhouse and Happiness, there is an original title song sung by a character with a guitar. Another in-joke. Here's the title track as sung by Devendra Banhart and Beck over the credits (Henderson also sings it during wartime, er, the movie).
In case you're interested, here are the casting changes from Happiness to Life During Wartime:
Joy: now Shirley Henderson, was Jane Adams.
Allen: now Michael K. Williams, was Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Trish: now Allison Janney, was Cynthia Stevenson.
Bill: now Ciarán Hinds, was Dylan Baker.
Timmy: now Dylan Riley (with beautifully thick eyelashes), was Snyder Justin Elvin.
Chloe: now Emma Hinz, was Lila Glantzman-Leib.
Billy: now Chris Marquette, was Rufus Read.
Helen (the other sister): now Ally Sheedy, was Lara Flynn Boyle.
Andy: now Paul Reubens (AKA Pee-wee Herman), was Jon Lovitz.
Mona (the mom): now Renée Taylor, was Louise Lasser (the dad was played by Ben Gazzara).
Mark Weiner: now Rich Pecci, was Matthew Faber.
Former child actress Gaby Hoffman (Field of Dreams at age 7 in 1989, Everyone Says I Love You in 1996, and more) has a cameo as Billy's girlfriend Wanda.
Though we had a great time, this movie is not for everyone, and definitely not for children. On rottentomatoes 69% of critics liked it and only 50% of users. One needs not to run screaming from the room at the suggestion of what Trish calls "sicko-pervy" behavior. And we, who stay in our seats, are Solondz' core audience.
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