Dark Horse

Being someone who has seen most of Todd Solonz's movies, you know what to expect from him. And you won't get disappointed. I had the opportunity to watch the Middle East premiere of Dark Horse at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. It was an even bigger experience to have Todd present during the screening, and give it an introduction as a 'sad comedy, where it's up to you to laugh or not'. I don't know how big an impact this particular statement had on my state of mind throughout the movie, but I cant help mentioning the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The story revolves around Abe, a thirty-something who works for his father, pampered by an extremely loving mother, having a highly accomplished doctor as his brother, and having a passion for collecting toys. When he meets Miranda, a strangely damaged soul going through some serious depression, he begins to think of getting out of his desperation by having her as a partner. They eventually enter into a seriously unstable relationship, where you even begin to question whether there really existed any element of a relationship between them.

The beauty of the movie lies in the director trying to portray the dark side of the unstable mind, through imagery. One of the scenes which really got to me is where Abe is supposedly in a toy store, demanding a refund for his fiancé whom he wants to return, insisting that he has a receipt which as the store staff points out has its date smudged out. Even though this scene is a figment of his fantasy, it really goes to show how Abe perceives things in life. A few other incidents involving the unseen affection Marie (secretary to Abe's father) has towards Abe, and Miranda's ex-boyfriend Mahmoud, all seemed to perfectly blend into the movie.

Needless to say, Christopher Walken played a strong part as Abe's father, so did all the other characters including Selma Blair as Miranda. However a big part of the movie's success lies in the solid performance by Jordan Gelber as Abe, who i felt was just apt for the role and did total justice to it.

Final verdict: A story involving a dysfunctional (or perhaps semi- functional) family, two out-of-the-normal characters and their seemingly unstable relationship, brilliantly presented in the form of a comedy - which makes you laugh and at the same time think about the appropriateness of laughing. Entertaining, and thought-provoking.

Todd Solondz obviously doesn't like people. If he did he wouldn't give us characters as thoroughly unlikable as Abe and Miranda, make them the leads in his disquieting, fantasy 'rom-com' "Dark Horse" and then set them up for our ridicule, (the 'comedy' comes from how much we laugh at these characters rather than with them). Abe is fat, unattractive and obnoxious with it and Jordan Gelber plays him superbly. Miranda is a would-be beauty who has let herself go; let herself go to the extent that she is prepared to marry Abe, a man she doesn't even like let alone love. Selma Blair plays her as a one-dimensional loser making her equally difficult to like. Abe lives at home with his parents, (brilliant performances from Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow), and works for his dad, though to be honest he doesn't do much work.

This is typical Solondz; a miserablist, myopic vision of humanity but without the brilliance that distinguished earlier pictures like "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Happiness". If I describe this as a 'pathetic' picture I don't mean that it's bad. It's very well written, directed and acted, (Donna Murphy is terrific as the secretary who fuels Abe's fantasies), but it's full of people you would cross town, never mind the street, to avoid and whatever handicaps you might have yourself it makes you glad you're not like anyone up there on the screen.

"Sweetie, we've written you off as a failure years ago." Abe (Gelber) is a toy collector and a slacker. In his 30's and still living at home with his parents and working for his father (Walken) he is not always happy. He meets Miranda (Blair) at a party and instantly falls in love. He asks her out once then proposes marriage. When a series of events begins Abe's life takes a strange turn. Having never seen a movie by Solondz before I was expecting this to be a comedy. I couldn't have been more wrong. The movie is OK but it's pretty depressing and Gelber does a really good job in this you really feel for his character. Selma Blair also does a pretty good job and they was she plays you are as confused about her as Abe is, which is probably the point. The acting really drives and helps the movie but to me the movie is just to slow moving to make it a high recommend. If you like Solondz movies then you will like this I'm guessing. To me it was OK but hard to get into. Overall, not bad but slow moving and I did get bored a little, up until the end. Which I was not expecting. I give it a C+.

It's nice to see Todd Solondz working again, even if his films never play anywhere. Jordan Gebler stars as a chubby man in his 30s living with his parents (Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken) and working for his father. His life is going nowhere, and he's taking out his existential frustrations on everyone around him. He has one small hope in a new acquaintance he's made, an enormously depressed girl he meets at a wedding (Selma Blair, reprising her character from Solondz Storytelling - maybe). The two don't hit it off right away, but, thankfully for him, she soon gives up on all of her aspirations and agrees to his ill-advised marriage proposal. This is perhaps a tad less funny than Solondz's best films and even more depressing. Bartha is so obnoxious I could imagine many viewers tuning out immediately, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't see myself in that character. Most of us have these tendencies, or at least know someone who does. As the film progresses, it often enters the realm of fantasy or imagination without warning, often from the perspective of a character whom we might not imagine at first. It's an interesting film that I didn't flat-out love, but it's one I would like to see again in the future, for sure. Performances all around are very good. It's nice to see Farrow - can't remember the last time. Donna Murphy and Aasif Mandvi also have choice roles.

The plot: An obnoxious man-child attempts an ill-fated romance with an equally broken woman, while coming to certain realizations about his life.

Dark Horse is not an easy movie to watch, but when have any Todd Solondz movies been easy to watch? His unflinching, brutally honest portrayals of flawed people make him popular with the indie crowd, but it's difficult to recommend his movies to anyone else. It's difficult not to identify with the parade of eternal losers of Solondz's movies, no matter how flawed they are, because, really, these people are us. We might try to deny it, of course, but the truth of the matter is that his movies are just too uncomfortably real for many people to enjoy. You might not be an awkward, depressed girl or an obnoxious, entitled man-child, but there's probably some aspect that you can relate to. If not, then you probably know someone like this. Solondz knows who we are, and he knows our society.

Dark Horse continues a rather surreal and artistic direction for Solondz. Fantasy, dreams, and reality all freely intermix. It might leave some audiences a bit confused, but it's usually pretty obvious which are which. In fact, I really enjoyed some of these scenes, because they opened the door to really inventive narrative and metaphor. In some ways, it was like David Lynch, but without the free-form stream-of-consciousness. These scenes really illustrate the characters better than any traditional scene could. The hilariously banal conversations are another nice touch. Anyone who appreciates irony will certainly enjoy them, though the irony-impaired, I think, will possibly hate this movie.

Solondz's characters have arguably never before been so depressed, bitter, and broken. If you're looking for an uplifting story, full of inspirational and likable characters, this is not the movie for you. Solondz is the undisputed master of strangely sympathetic portraits of society's biggest losers and weirdos. This one will hit pretty close to home for many geeks.