"Dark Horse" is the best movie Todd Solondz has done since "Happiness". It took me two viewings to "get" it, but once I "got" it I have to say the movie has stayed with me.
I now conclude that "Dark Horse" is a surrealist film in the tradition of late-era Bunuel and recent David Lynch. It has more in common with Solondz' "Palindromes" than any of his other work. It isn't meant to be taken literally. Like "Life During Wartime", which was a both a sequel and a re-imagining of "Happiness", the perspective is skewed and left unexplained until the very end. Unfortunately, the explanation isn't clear to those expecting a movie closer in spirit to "Welcome To The Dollhouse".
Almost no one reviewing the movie here on IMDb goes into much detail over (here come the spoilers) Donna Murphy's character. It is, in fact, the crux of the movie: The film is mostly told through Marie's eyes. Abe's perspective is shown here and there (especially in the coma vision he has at Toys R Us) but if you see the majority of the film as Marie's fantasy of Abe-- her dark horse --navigating his fruitless life, then it makes much more poignant sense.
Also, it's clear (to me at least) that, as obnoxious as Abe is, he is also the most un-self-conscious character in the movie, and therefore a relief to Marie and Miranda. At one point Miranda even asks him if he is for real; she wonders if his demeanor is a put-on, some sort of ironic act he is performing for her. When we meet Mahmoud for the first time, we understand why she asked: Mahmoud is as affected as Abe is unaffected.
It is this unaffected poise that compels Marie to root for him, and also causes Miranda to realize that maybe she might care about things after all-- just not to Abe's liking, which is the tragedy of the movie. After infecting him with the disease that kills him, she cannot even bear to tell him what he wants to hear, and he dies shortly after.
It all boils down to the last shot of Marie, daydreaming at work, perhaps dancing with her dark horse, the wrong horse to bet on, the one she was sure was going to break out and win. The revelation that Abe's dad also thought of him as a dark horse (in a scene that may or may not be from beyond the grave) ties it all together as well.
I hope anyone who saw this movie and reviewed it here goes back and watches it again, because it is amazing. Even if you liked it, I think you might have missed something about it the first time around. Never has the phrase "rewards repeat viewings" actually meant something than with this dark horse of a movie.
I now conclude that "Dark Horse" is a surrealist film in the tradition of late-era Bunuel and recent David Lynch. It has more in common with Solondz' "Palindromes" than any of his other work. It isn't meant to be taken literally. Like "Life During Wartime", which was a both a sequel and a re-imagining of "Happiness", the perspective is skewed and left unexplained until the very end. Unfortunately, the explanation isn't clear to those expecting a movie closer in spirit to "Welcome To The Dollhouse".
Almost no one reviewing the movie here on IMDb goes into much detail over (here come the spoilers) Donna Murphy's character. It is, in fact, the crux of the movie: The film is mostly told through Marie's eyes. Abe's perspective is shown here and there (especially in the coma vision he has at Toys R Us) but if you see the majority of the film as Marie's fantasy of Abe-- her dark horse --navigating his fruitless life, then it makes much more poignant sense.
Also, it's clear (to me at least) that, as obnoxious as Abe is, he is also the most un-self-conscious character in the movie, and therefore a relief to Marie and Miranda. At one point Miranda even asks him if he is for real; she wonders if his demeanor is a put-on, some sort of ironic act he is performing for her. When we meet Mahmoud for the first time, we understand why she asked: Mahmoud is as affected as Abe is unaffected.
It is this unaffected poise that compels Marie to root for him, and also causes Miranda to realize that maybe she might care about things after all-- just not to Abe's liking, which is the tragedy of the movie. After infecting him with the disease that kills him, she cannot even bear to tell him what he wants to hear, and he dies shortly after.
It all boils down to the last shot of Marie, daydreaming at work, perhaps dancing with her dark horse, the wrong horse to bet on, the one she was sure was going to break out and win. The revelation that Abe's dad also thought of him as a dark horse (in a scene that may or may not be from beyond the grave) ties it all together as well.
I hope anyone who saw this movie and reviewed it here goes back and watches it again, because it is amazing. Even if you liked it, I think you might have missed something about it the first time around. Never has the phrase "rewards repeat viewings" actually meant something than with this dark horse of a movie.