Todd Solondz’s latest film offering, Storytelling,
crosses familiar territory as it provides a two part narrative delve into the
dark heart of suburban America.
This film’s first narrative, entitled Fiction, gives us a
front seat view into the sexual adventures of Vi, a pretentious college student who first dates a classmate with
cerebral palsy, and later her African American English teacher, in what she
describes as an effort to add interest and spice to her love life. Both of these relationships turn ugly, but
its only when Vi and her cerebral palsy boyfriend choose to fictionalise their
adventures in love in their college English class, that they find the barriers
between fact and fiction, and their motives in life, come under heavy fire.
Via the guise of storytelling, Fiction’s characters seek
validation in their lives, and through them, Storytelling’s first
narrative provides a dark and unsettling depiction of the private sphere power
struggles that are played out daily between those in the minority and those in
the majority of mainstream society.
This film’s second narrative, entitled Non Fiction, follows
the life of Toby, a failed actor turned documentary filmmaker wannabe, who soon
begins to make a film on the life of disaffected teenager Scooby, and that of
his dysfunctional family. While Toby’s
intention was to create a documentary study of the difficulties that face
American teenagers today, a series of bizarre tragedies soon begin to befall
Scooby’s family, turning Toby’s film into something much more than either Toby
or Scooby could have imagined – both the chronicle of a personal tragedy, and
an audience hit.
While playing out Scooby’s story, Non Fiction provides a
subtle social commentary on the reality tv phenomenon, while also highlighting
the more exploitative qualities associated with it (considering the kind of
fictive film realities that can be created on the cutting room floor). Non Fiction also provides a portrait
of a directionless, terminally depressed, teenage America which is far removed
from anything that you’re likely to see in a Hollywood film.
While both Fiction and Non Fiction have their
respective moments, the narrative thread between the two is never terribly well
defined throughout the course of the film.
And while I acknowledge that the nature of Storytelling’s
narrative necessitates the depiction of some fairly flawed characters, Solondz
fails to imbue the characters in this film with either the possibility of
redemption, or much in the way of character development. Instead, the characters in this film come
across as flat, unlikable and difficult to identify with. Similarly dark characters have certainly
peopled Solondz’s earlier films, Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness,
but those characterisations seemed to be drawn with a measure of humanity,
irony and sympathy which seemed sorely lacking from the characters that people Storytelling’s
dual narrative.
While the themes explored in this film and even its title speak to
the fact that film can rise above the level of mere storytelling, and in doing
so, provide an enlightening, and sometimes biting, commentary on the culture
that created them – Solondz’s latest film offering comes across as
unrelentingly dark and essentially
uninspired.
If the play between fiction and non fiction, mainstream culture
and the marginalized are of interest to you, I would much more readily
recommend a viewing of Yvonne Rainer’s compelling and thought provoking film Privilege.
Vanessa Long
[email protected]
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