Welcome to the Dollhouse
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DVD details
Actor: Christina Brucato, Christina Vidal, Heather Matarazzo, Siri Howard, Victoria DavisBrand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
Published: 1999-08-01
DVD Release Date: 1999-08-03
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Welcome to the Dollhouse
DVD Review: Come on Dawn, tell your sister that you love her!
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is one that you will either desperately hate, or you will scream your excitement to your friends at any given opportunity. Welcome to the Dollhouse is not one that most find meddling around somewhere in the middle mainly because this is a difficult film to watch. This is not to say that the direction is bad or the acting is atrocious, but instead its deep roots deal with issues that are difficult to swallow. Dawn Wiener is not your typical "hero" in which she is redeemed at the end of the film and praised as the newest addition to the popular crowd. There is no big entrance, there is no singing school band, in fact, there is very little of anything except the Weiner family's excitement of being on television. We, as audience members, want to feel bad for Dawn, but we cannot just laugh her off as a comedy character. She reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite. While most laughed at the actions and words of Napoleon (Jared Heder), it was actually very sad the situations surrounding him. The same can be said of Dawn. When I talk to friends about this film they typically (after already getting excited about the discussion or denouncing the entire film) say that it was a humorous film. Dawn is a funny character. Even film sites label this film under the category of "comedy", and while there may be small elements of humor sprinkled throughout the film, I think it is far from being a "laugh-out-loud" comedy. Welcome to the Dollhouse is a tragedy about society, family structures, and being the outcast that never quite fit in.
Todd Solondz has single-handedly created a masterpiece that will be studied and respected for years to come in the film community. He has taken elements so cliché in our cinema society and twisted them a bit to give us sincerity and anxiety compiled together. His choice of both music and camera placement only further develop these intense emotions. We want to laugh at this film, we don't want to feel sympathy for Dawn, but Solondz forces us to almost immediately. It feels during this film that Solondz actually may have gone to school with all of us, watching our moments of embarrassment and writing them down for future reference. I loved the sounds that Solondz used to define this film. That wild mix of guitar and drum create a feeling that something is going to happen, thus keeping us all glued to the edge of our seats. While Solondz obviously makes Dawn the center of this film, it is his attention to detail with the surrounding characters which really make Welcome to the Dollhouse more than you typical Hollywood fare. I wanted to see more of Dawn's older brother; I thought he was a tight juxtaposition between Dawn and her sister, Missy. He was also ignored by his parents, but he seemed to be comfortable with it. He knew his role, and while he wanted to escape it, he also fit well within. I don't believe than any actress could have pulled Dawn's mother off any better than Angela Pietropinto. Her facial expressions and impeccable timing demonstrated to us that Dawn's pressures did not just evolve at school, but also continued at home. I just thought that Solondz created a real family with the Wieners. One that most films are afraid to capture on film, but seem very real to the audience.
Finally, I would like to add that I believe this to be a pivotal film in our film culture. While others may disagree, I think that Solondz has created a masterpiece. I didn't realize this at first, and for most I will suggest more than one viewing, but the final chapter to this film is really a powerhouse of great acting, promising discovery, and a horrifying truth. You will not end this film with butterflies and song, but instead realism, which is the honesty that Solondz bring to the table with Welcome to the Dollhouse. The acting is a bit amateurish, but what puts a smile to my face is the ability that Solondz had to make this work. Dawn is not an actor playing a teenage, but instead feels like a teenager playing herself. Solondz typically uses unknown actors (in the films that really pack a wallop) which allows us to look past the acting and deeply into the story, which is why I didn't focus too much of my review on the acting. It seemed natural, and for me I was more interested in what Solondz wanted to do, and not so much how his cast wanted to say it. This was a Todd Solondz film.
As you watch his later work, you will see Solondz evolve a bit (Happiness), and go a bit mainstream (or at least as much as he can with Storytelling), but will come back full circle giving us a match to Welcome to the Dollhouse avante-guard cinema with Palindromes. He is a masterful director, but not one that mainstream Hollywood is willing to embrace (thankfully!). His work, especially with this film, creates uneasiness in you that you cannot shake after watching. He creates visions and impressions that remain with you long after the final credits have rolled, but he is an acquired taste. Solondz is not for everyone, but for those willing to give him a chance, watch his films without the panoramic explosive eye; than I think you will find that there is nobody else like him out in our film community. I cannot wait to see where his vision will take us next as well as I cannot wait to add Welcome to the Dollhouse to my film collection.
Grade: ***** out of *****
Description of Welcome to the Dollhouse
WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE - DVD MovieWhat is junior high school but a strange, disorienting pastiche of black comedy, tragedy, soap opera, and (most of all) horror movie? Well, that pretty much describes Todd Solondz's astonishingly honest and clear-sighted film, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Like Solondz's even more controversial follow-up--the acclaimed and despised Happiness (1998)--Dollhouse unflinchingly looks deep into its characters' souls (and their embarrassing desires, and their floundering sexuality) in ways that can be simultaneously disturbing and liberating, appalling and hilarious. Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) is a hapless seventh-grade geek whose cruel and contemptuous schoolmates have nicknamed her (what else?) "Wiener Dog." Everything about Dawn is so awkward--the way she looks, talks, moves--that it's no wonder other kids dump on her. They're most likely so insecure about themselves that they're terrified of the Wiener Dog they know lurks somewhere down inside themselves, too. So, the best social and psychological survival tactic is to distance themselves from Dawn by relentlessly reminding her of her "place" at the bottom of the junior-high pecking order. Solondz's vision is hardly sentimental, and you wouldn't even call it "compassionate," but it is a moral vision: authentic, undiluted, and, in the end, understanding. --Jim Emerson
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