Life During Wartime
Heart & Solondz
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
Did you survive Todd Solondz‘ 1998 cringe-fest Happiness? For a whole decade, we didn’t. In fact, it had left us so bothersome and icky that we despised it, left it for dead, and got really angry anytime someone brought it up … until our more cynical selves took a recent second look at it. And the new verdict? A complete 180 degree turn. Yes, Happiness is still a boat-load of flinch and wince inducing uncomfortably numbness, but it may juss be the mos beautiful and heartfelt unkind film of our modern cinema age. How did we get it so wrong? Had our tastes and refinement not yet reach its fruition during the end of the 20th century? Did we need to move to NY and became post-9/11 jaded for us to view awfulness in a new light? These questions are too heavy for a website like this. Anywho…
With Life During Wartime, Solondz goes back to the same bleak well, one that we never thought in 1000229 zillion billion years was worth revisiting… until we experienced his latest monster creation.  And oh baby, it’s alive!!!!!!!!!!! Although somehow not as gut-wrenching and damaging to the psyche!!! It’s probably a good idea that you see Happiness first (but if have and loathe it beyond all belief, maybe you should stop there), as the characters all carry over into Wartime, despite an entirely new set of actors playing em. Yep, Solondzzzies does it again, playing with our minds and his creations, although not as crazily as he did with Palindromes, where 10 actors of various ages, creeds and sexes all played the same role. We hated that flick too, but maybe we need to give in a second chance as well. Sarah Palindrome will never get a second chance with us, ever. May have sumting to do with her ruining our real last names!!!! Plus she blows, COCK!!
(qwik note about the paragraph below: we’ll mention the new actor playing each role, as well as the actor who played it originally)
So what is life like during wartime for the Jordan and Maplewood clans? Joy (Shirley Henderson, a more moaning myrtle version of Jane Adams) is still a wreck and wrecking everyone’s life who she comes into contact with. Even the ghost of Andy (a literally and figuratively haunting Paul Reubens, standing in admirably for Jon Lovitz‘ sad sack) won’t let her forget about his suicide. She’s having problems with the problematic Allen (Michael K. Williams, a tad less creepy than Philip Seymour Hoffman), so she heads to California to visit with her blah-blahed actress sis Helen (Ally Sheedy, gettin shallow juss like Lara Flynn Boyle) and to Florida to visit with her ‘cheerier’ sister Trish (Allison Janney, in perhaps her juicest role to date, although we do miss the homely cutie-pie-ness of Cynthia Stevenson), who’s trying to start life anew after hubby Bill (our mos flavorite actor goings Ciarán Hinds, who strips away all the humor Dylan Baker dished out) got sent away for being a pedophile. Well, his time’s been served and he’s out in the world looking for a bit o forgive and forget-ness (+ a one night stand, with a deliriously delicious Charlotte Rampling), as is the case with all parties involved (eggcept no one else is trying to bag Charlotte Rampling’s character). Trish has found a nice Jewish man (Michael Lerner, who’s about as Jewish as it gets + the papa of the thighlariously red-scared son played by Rich Pecci) that she hopes will instill some manlihood into her soon to be a man (in the Bar Mitzvah sense) son Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder, the new Justin Elvin). Timmy’s the heart & Solodnz of the picture (with the Billy character alls growns up and off to college, Chris Marquette, subbing for Rufus Read). His pain is real, and his endless questions are realerer. You juss wanna hug the kid, but that’s probably not the best idea for a confused child of a pederast father. Will they ever find happiness? Is it even possible? Regardless, here’s hoping we get to see what happens to these folks in peacetime!
The Song Doesn’t Remain The Same: there’s the Talking Heads’ ‘Life During Wartime’ and then there’s the song of the same name for this movie, but with different lyrics (actually written by Solondz) and perofrmed by Devendra Banhart & Beck. either way, we’re happy-ness!
Verdictgo: Jeepers MOS DEF Worth A Peepers, but ONLY if you’ve survived Happiness 1st
Life gets one today in NY today, and elsewhere elsewhen
and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…
18. Sep, 2018 
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