Wiener-Dog,2016.
Directed by Todd Solondz.
Starring Greta Gerwig, Brie Larson, Julie Delpy, Kieran Culkin, Zosia Mamet, Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn, and Tracy Letts.
SYNOPSIS:
Four stories linked by a single dog. The affluent family who takes in the dog but can’t look after it. The veterinary nurse who takes it on a road trip. The university lecturer who sees it as his last chance of companionship. And the grumpy old woman who has given up on life.
Don’t be confused. There are two films at this year’s Sundance London with remarkably similar names. There’s Weiner, the documentary about the man of the same name who’s ambitions to be Mayor of New York were dashed by a sex scandal. And there’s this one, Wiener-Dog.
The dog of the title is what Brits call a dashchund – a sausage dog, if you like – and it’s the link in this quirky portmanteau film from director Todd Solondz. But it’s a very tenuous link between four stories about people who are, in different ways, unhappy.
The young boy in the first one is recouperating after a serious illness and his father (Tracy Letts) decides a dog might help with his recovery. Mum (Julie Delpy) is less than happy at the idea, especially at the thought that the dog might make a mess in their expensively pristine home. They’re not exactly cut out for keeping a pet: it’s confined to a cage in the basement and dad gets increasingly angry that it doesn’t obey his commands, first time and every time. Taking her for a walk is hilariously and frequently punctuated with “Heel, mother***er, heel!” But the little boy, Remi (Keaton Nigel Cooke) is just as neglected as the dog and when the two are left alone in the house, they jump for joy at being let off the metaphorical leash – – although the result turns out to be a room covered in feathers from a massacred cushion and the dog being ill after eating a granola bar.
Wiener-Dog is taken to the vet’s and left there to be put to sleep, but is rescued by the lonely and socially awkward nurse, Dawn (Greta Gerwig) who nurses her back to health. An old school friend invites her on a road trip and, as she has nothing to keep her in her apartment, she goes and takes the dog with her. This is the segment with the most heart, courtesy of Gerwig’s performance as somebody who is simply kindness personified. Part of the trip involves a visit to her friend’s brother, who lives with his girlfriend. And it’s with them that the dog finds its next home as Gerwig decides to leave it there: they have a house and a garden and it will encourage the girlfriend to be less house bound.
How her next owner turns out to the miserable screenwriting professor Dave Schmerz (Danny DeVito) is never explained. He’s increasingly out of touch with both colleagues and students, is soon to be out of a job and is descending into a deep depression. His attempt to take his revenge on the faculty involves the dog in a farcical and, unsurprisingly, unsuccessful way. Finally, Wiener-Dog finds her way into the arms of the grumpy Nana (Ellen Burstyn) who actually gives her a name. But her sense of humour is so black that she calls it Cancer.
And by the time that fourth episode arrives, you’re starting to give up on the film. Unlike Burstyn who, despite her bad temper, realises she’s not ready to die when she’s confronted by her own mortality. There’s a typically strange scene illustrating all the paths she could have taken in her life but didn’t, and sadly it doesn’t work especially well. It could have been illustrated in a much less bizarre way.
So is there genuinely anything in common between the four stories – apart from the dog, that is? You’ll try desperately hard to find something, but in reality the dog is it. The film is disjointed and in need of something much more substantial to hold it all together.
However, it does have one glorious highlight – the intermission between parts two and three. A joyously kitsch sequence to the strains of country song ‘The Ballad Of Weiner-Dog’, showing a giant version of the mutt waddling across all-American landscapes. It’s a welcome break from some of the darkness and sadness we’ve seen so far and helps prepare us for more of the same, but in different settings. Is it meant to show how the dog ends up with Dave, the morose professor? Possibly, but if so, it’s obscure.
Unlike many of the films so far at this year’s Sundance London, Wiener-Dog has a confirmed UK release date. It’s 12th August. As a film it’s quirky to the point of weird, unsettling at times and uneven at others. Todd Solondz is definitely an acquired taste.
Wiener-Dog is screened at Sundance London on 3rd and 4th June.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Freda Cooper. Follow me on Twitter, check out my movie blog and listen to my podcast, Talking Pictures.
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Originally published June 3, 2016. Updated November 10, 2019.
