I adore what I've seen of Todd Solondz's films (I adore Welcome To The Dollhouse and Happiness but didn't see Storytelling), so of course I walked into the theater with high expectations.
Ellen Barkin (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) did a stellar job as the pro-abortion supportive mother of the 13-year-old main character who's only desire is to have babies, lots and lots of babies! The whole film is centered around a gimmick that didn't work for me while I watched it. A different girl or woman would play the main girl, Aviva, in each chapter. 'Mama Sunshine' Aviva, played by Sharon Wilkins (I, Robot), is a large black woman who's backside is featured on the poster. She did a fine job, but the parts of the film that have the strongest emotional impact are the scenes where the actress playing Aviva actually resembles the character's age. It's much harder, emotionally, to watch a 13-year-old girl go through the events depicted in the film. That was also my problem with Jennifer Jason Leigh (eXistenZ)'s scene, but hers was a short one.
After the movie was over I kept asking myself "Why? Why did he have seven actresses playing Aviva?" I started thinking maybe it was saying that Aviva is all girls/women, but if that was the case I thought it was a pretty weak concept, especially at the expense of the film's impact.
Then it occurred to me that what (I think) he was doing was showing us Aviva's self-image. When this occurred to me it got me really thinking and it made total sense! In the first scene she is a little black girl because she feels like someone who clearly doesn't belong to her family, a complete outcast, a little black girl in a white family. When Aviva first has sex she is a little overweight with slouched shoulders, pretty yet plain and awkward. When she runs away she is tiny, little waif of a thing, a little ant in a big scary world. Then when she's at Mama Sunshine's she is an obese black adult woman because she has seen the world, feels much older, feels completely removed from her family and feels huge and awkward in a body she no longer knows at all - and she feels like a complete fraud, that is why she is played by someone who looks NOTHING like she normally does. At the return party she is played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, an actress in her 40s, because she feels so old, like she's seen so much of the world.
I loved it! It made sense. It had a powerful message. I could relate completely. We never see ourselves except in photos and reflections so our self image is completely emotional. Todd Solondz was trying to capture that feeling and did it magnificently. It was subtle, beautiful and heartbreaking.
A few other things I loved was Alexander Brickel (Satan's Little Helper), the little boy who played Peter Paul. He was so incredible! What a hilarious and charming child actor. Good child actors are SO rare. Also, the opening sequence with Dawn Wiener's funeral and then Ellen Barkin explaining to the young Aviva why Dawn's parents never loved her... great comedy! The last sequence where we had an epileptic fit of all the Avivas through the course of the film didn't work so well, but it does go with my above theory.
Overall, it was an amazing film with a few small flaws, definitely worth viewing but not as powerful as Welcome To The Dollhouse or Happiness, but incredible nonetheless.
Ellen Barkin (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) did a stellar job as the pro-abortion supportive mother of the 13-year-old main character who's only desire is to have babies, lots and lots of babies! The whole film is centered around a gimmick that didn't work for me while I watched it. A different girl or woman would play the main girl, Aviva, in each chapter. 'Mama Sunshine' Aviva, played by Sharon Wilkins (I, Robot), is a large black woman who's backside is featured on the poster. She did a fine job, but the parts of the film that have the strongest emotional impact are the scenes where the actress playing Aviva actually resembles the character's age. It's much harder, emotionally, to watch a 13-year-old girl go through the events depicted in the film. That was also my problem with Jennifer Jason Leigh (eXistenZ)'s scene, but hers was a short one.
After the movie was over I kept asking myself "Why? Why did he have seven actresses playing Aviva?" I started thinking maybe it was saying that Aviva is all girls/women, but if that was the case I thought it was a pretty weak concept, especially at the expense of the film's impact.
Then it occurred to me that what (I think) he was doing was showing us Aviva's self-image. When this occurred to me it got me really thinking and it made total sense! In the first scene she is a little black girl because she feels like someone who clearly doesn't belong to her family, a complete outcast, a little black girl in a white family. When Aviva first has sex she is a little overweight with slouched shoulders, pretty yet plain and awkward. When she runs away she is tiny, little waif of a thing, a little ant in a big scary world. Then when she's at Mama Sunshine's she is an obese black adult woman because she has seen the world, feels much older, feels completely removed from her family and feels huge and awkward in a body she no longer knows at all - and she feels like a complete fraud, that is why she is played by someone who looks NOTHING like she normally does. At the return party she is played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, an actress in her 40s, because she feels so old, like she's seen so much of the world.
I loved it! It made sense. It had a powerful message. I could relate completely. We never see ourselves except in photos and reflections so our self image is completely emotional. Todd Solondz was trying to capture that feeling and did it magnificently. It was subtle, beautiful and heartbreaking.
A few other things I loved was Alexander Brickel (Satan's Little Helper), the little boy who played Peter Paul. He was so incredible! What a hilarious and charming child actor. Good child actors are SO rare. Also, the opening sequence with Dawn Wiener's funeral and then Ellen Barkin explaining to the young Aviva why Dawn's parents never loved her... great comedy! The last sequence where we had an epileptic fit of all the Avivas through the course of the film didn't work so well, but it does go with my above theory.
Overall, it was an amazing film with a few small flaws, definitely worth viewing but not as powerful as Welcome To The Dollhouse or Happiness, but incredible nonetheless.