Bienvenidos a la casa de muñecas

Todd Solandz's first feature is a dead-on accurate exploration of geek childhood as seen through the bespecled lenses of the nerdy Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo). Dawn's rotten school life is compounded by the fact that an older guy at school is targeting her for extracurricular rape. He hasn't quite decided if he's really going to bury the sausage in Dawn, but he's sure getting off on the anxiety he's generating. At home, Dawn must compete with her cute, feisty, outrageously indulged sister Missy (the irrepressible Daria Kalinina), a beauty pageant wanna-be if ever there was one, and a mother she has a huge disconnection issue with. Dawn's life is such a living hell the rape looks like it might be an interesting diversion. Solandz followed this up with the terrific "Happiness", an exploration of a more adult hell. Though the subject matter of "Dollhouse" is incendiary, the nihilism is sautéed in the blackest of humor and deep sympathy for the characters. A true original.

"Welcome to the Dollhouse" is a fresh, creative, no frills pic about a junior high school girl who is the personification of "uncool". This poignant film could be dark comedy, light drama, satire or even farce depending on how its interpreted. However that may be, it shows in painful detail the assassination of the self esteem of a sweet, kind, and thoughtful girl who wants little more than to be liked. Entertaining as it may be, "...Dollhouse" is a movie with a message for everyone who has ever been 12.

Welcome to the Dollhouse is an excellent film. It shows, in a strictly un-opinionated manner, a young girl's experiences as one of the unpopular kids in her junior high-school. She is faced with the extreme viciousness commonly shown in schools towards the students who, for whatever reason, don't fit in. The film never attempts to go any deeper than simply displaying these occurences to us, never really analyzing them or questioning why things like that happen. It just shows what is, what we've all experienced or at least seen, and for that I think it's all the more effective.

There are also some humorous moments thrown in, which I thought were nice and somewhat alleviated the otherwise depressing mood of the film (not that I'm complaining).

Welcome to the Dollhouse is a great snapshot of human behaviour. That's the best way I can describe it.

Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) is the awkward middle child and social outcast 7th grader. She's got the hated nickname Wienerdog. Girls call her lesbo. Not even the other outcasts like her. The teachers find her annoying. Her parents ignore her. Her mother favors the youngest adorable Missy. Her older brother Mark is a nerd but he's a driven nerd. He gets the popular hunk Steve Rodgers to join his band and she's completely infatuated. Everybody picks on her especially class bully Brandon. She has the Special People Club in the backyard with her only friend the younger Ralphy. Steve Rodgers is actually nice to her and she misunderstands. Brandon starts taking an even more intense interest in her.

Heather Matarazzo is amazingly awkward. It is cringe-worthy. Writer/director Todd Solondz is the king of the disturbing underbelly of society. The bullying is hard to watch. Dawn is not a nice girl but she is the clueless girl trying to find her way. She often hurts people just as others have hurt her. The movie is so uncomfortable that the audience has no choice but to laugh. And then it gets darker. Sometimes it goes over the edge like what happens to Missy. There's no real need to go that far but it's not a problem. At its center, there is the compelling Matarazzo.

This movie was great. I was shocked to see no one had posted a comment on it. A fantastic performance by Heather Matazarro. The movie is all about growing up in a world that expects you to already be an adult. Because Dawn Weiner is "ugly" she is mistreated, harassed, and ignored by everyone she comes across. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that featured a character more emotional alone. There is a scene where Dawn's mother offers Dawn's dessert to her siblings to get back at her. They take it, eagerly. Most movies like this are either black comedies or feature a character who is stoicaly non-conformist or just stoic. Dawn is neither. She bleeds, right up until the movies end, which I won't spoil but I will say that it is all the more heartbreaking for its inertia as for its action. Go find this one. You'll either love it or hate it. It's not a movie that just lets you go.