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.

Do not go into Welcome to the Dollhouse expecting a charming coming-of-age story. Don't expect to have a lot of laughs either. I'd seen this film several times before this viewing, including its original theatrical run, and it was just as cringe-worthy as the first time, if not more so because you know what to expect and find that you are bracing yourself.

Solondz gives us the story of Dawn Weiner, a painfully awkward 13 year old girl who not only has to contend with being ostracized and friendless at school, but is essentially ignored and treated with disdain at home as well. Being the middle child is obviously not the easiest thing to deal with within the family dynamic, but when your older brother is a geeky over achiever and your little sister is a gorgeous ballet-dancing cherub who commands total devotion from her mother, life is generally difficult for Dawn.

Solondz throws in some intriguing plot points that punch up the story and encourage introspection, but while the story and presentation are excellent, the real breakout element of the film is the performance of Heather Matarazzo. It is amazing that she was the same age as her character during filming because the performance, while the right age, exhibits a talent beyond her years. You would be hard pressed to find someone who actually found the torment against her as humorous. Rather, Solondz is so relentless with the abuse that it's almost like picking at a scab. However, in the character of Dawn Weiner, we also see strength and conviction to go along with her vulnerability. It's as if she finally realized and perfected these defense mechanisms simply so she can `survive' junior high school.

Welcome to the Dollhouse is not a feel-good movie by any means. It is a stark and realistic look at adolescence in a way that we don't normally see it – it is not a sunny and idyllic junior high/high school experience, and not every `nerd' is stereotypical, a fact soundly proven by the complexity of the heroine of this great movie.

--Shelly

"Welcome to the Dollhouse" is a feel-bad movie with little to make most viewers smile. It's depressing, awful and painful to watch. It's also incredibly insightful and incredibly well made.

Heather Matarazzo stars as Dawn, a miserable kid who just began middle school. She's not particularly pretty, nor talented nor self- assured. The other kids are incredibly nasty and take full advantage of her insecurities, her teacher could use euthanizing and her mother is a complete jerk...and as a result Dawn is depressed and lost. The film follows her during part of the school year and by the end, her life still seems to suck...just as much as when the film began.

So why do I give this miserable film an 8? Well, writer/director Todd Solondz really understands kids this age...and most Hollywood films completely get kids this age wrong! They usually make them too smart, too self-aware and too happy...which is great if you are a movie star but not reality. Here, however, Solondz explores what life can be like for kids who feel like outsiders...which is incredibly tough at that age. The only negative is that there really is no ending to this story...Dawn is still miserable, her mother still is a terrible parent and things look like it's just going to be more of the same. But wow...what an incredibly well made little film!

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE (1996) **** Heather Matarazzo, Brian Sexton Jr., Eric Mabius, Matthew Faber, Daria Kalinina, Angela Pietropinto. Easily one of the best independent films ever produced. Matarazzo is brilliant perfection as 11 year old Dawn Wiener - Wiener Dog - who is trying desperately to survive the 7th grade NJ suburban hell with her existence as a gawky, nerdy yet smarter- than-the-rest protagonist facing every conceivable roadblock to hurdle including a dimwitted hunky high schooler and a seemingly threatening classmate (Sexton who is also great) who can't decide if he wants to "rape" her. Heartbreaking and all too close to the bone perfectly realized depiction of how judgemental we all are and just how harrowing adolescence really is. Dare not to be angered when her self-indulgent mother takes away her cake at the dinner table while the rest of the monstrous family greedily eat their desserts. Black comedy satire and documentarian genres blending seamlessly to a genuine masterpiece of poignancy sharply observant parable of anomie and angst by writer and director Todd Solondz (who won the Best Picture prize at Sundance). Wickedly funny and dead on accurate.

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.