Storytelling

Plot synopsis:
Fiction, the first half of Storytelling, opens with Vi having sex with her boyfriend, Marcus, who is afflicted with cerebral palsy. When they finish, Vi is anxious to leave, which Marcus suspects is because she no longer finds his handicap kinky.Marcus writes terrible short stories and, though Vi and her other creative writing classmates realize this, everyone flatters him because they are afraid of critiquing someone who is handicapped. Eventually, a classmate finally vocalizes criticisms before the black professor, Mr. Scott, unleashes a diatribe of insults ("Katherine is right. Your story is a piece of sh*t. You expressed nothing but banalities."). Marcus, hurt that Vi had not provided genuine criticism breaks up with her. Subsequently Vi meets Mr. Scott in a bar and she goes home with him. While freshening up in his bathroom, Vi discovers naked photographs of several of her white female classmates. "Don't be racist", she whispers to herself in the mirror. Upon exiting the bathroom, Mr. Scott asks her to take off her clothing and proceeds to sodomize her while demanding that she scream, "N*gger, f*ck me hard!" She returns to class, having written a thinly-veiled account of these events as a fictional short story. Her classmates immediately attack her with criticisms, calling the story racist, misogynistic, and the ramblings of a spoiled white girl.The second half Nonfiction stars Toby, a loser documentary filmmaker, and his subject Scooby, a directionless adolescent. Scooby is constantly at odds with his parents, a war that is waged nightly at the dinner table. Toby soon realizes that his documentary is aimless. It is revealed to the audience that Scooby is bisexual when he is shown apathetically allowing a male schoolmate to perform fellatio on him as he fantasizes about his parents set aflame. Toby's documentary soon changes from a respectful, educational documentary about high school students into a condescending, exploitative mockery of Scooby and his family. Scooby sneaks into an early screening of the film only to discover the audience laughing uproariously at the representation of his family. While Scooby is out, the family's ex-housekeeper, embittered by her recent firing, poisons his family with gas. Scooby returns to his home to discover that his family is dead and tells Toby coldly to not feel sorry for him because, "the movie is a hit."

Tags: thought-provoking, comedy, cruelty, murder, satire

Review:
Before we have a chance to pass judgment on Solondz, his character writes about the event in the 3rd person and reads the story in class.
Probably Director Todd Solondz' most mature work to date, Storytelling is split into two parts `Fiction' and `Non-Fiction' - yet similar themes underlie both and pose questions about what we call reality when it comes to prejudice and taboo subjects.
Whilst in previous attempts (such as `Happiness') Solondz' work has merely been controversial, in this film he berates political correctness more accurately and more entertainingly.
But part of the film involves the story of a `documentary' being made within the main story, by an exploitative screwed up filmmaker who wants to do his own thing in the name of art, so in this sense, Storytelling even turns on itself and questions the validity of using the subject matter that it does.
I got the strong impression that this part was only included to make the movie full-time.The second story, "Non-fiction", is clearly stronger, and told with much more passion from the writer/director.
It would have been impossible to make a whole movie  out of "Fiction," and I think it was impressive that Solondz had the daring to just change over to another story without trying to link them, which would have been tedious.
The graphic sex scene between Selma Blair and Robert Wisdom is blocked out in the R-rated version; Solondz has a big red rectangle over the characters in a successful attempt to show how the MPAA censors can ruin a movie with their silly rules.
Not just physically, but also in the way he was criticized for making fun of the characters in his documentary just as Solondz has been criticized for doing the same in "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Happiness."  Many people who dislike Solondz films just can't stand the often vicious or disturbing denizens that inhabit his works.
These people should stick to watching "Titanic" and "A Walk to Remember" as they have no appreciation for the daring and honest way Solondz makes his movies..
Not as focused as Dollhouse or as filled-out as Happiness, Storytelling does seem sparse, and that's one of the things I like best about it (I've seen it 4 times now)- how T.S. didn't feel the need to conform to what the majority of film goers (even his OWN crowd!) expect when they enter a theatre.
Like That Thing On Your Neck, It's Grown On Me. At first viewing I though this was the weakest of director Todd Solondz films, however like all of his works, it's impossible to forget once seen.
Here Solondz shows us yet another dysfunctional upper middle class Jewish family in chaos, but this time as a "documentary", which shows us the pathetic film maker, the cruel or otherwise ignorant family, and the audience who laughs and scoffs, at it all.
But if you've already seen these films, watching Storytelling can only make you feel bad, like a quickie, it's so good then when it's over, poof, you're bored and you want something else just like it, but different.
I mean let's face it; where else are you going to find a great performance from John freakin' Goodman!Sadly though, I find it hard to convince certain TYPES of people as to why Solondz's work is so good.
This is why it's depressing watching the film, you see how brilliant this man is and how clearly he can speak his mind and say to you: "I hear YOU, I feel this way, and I know you do too, and this is here for US to enjoy, not just something for everyone."  Some people say Art is something everyone can universally appreciate.
You can look at Storytelling or actually Happiness is better for this as formulaic, or formal art, the technical way the film is put together is brilliant, that's its universal art.
Those who were heavily turned off by Solondz's last effort, "Happiness," (a film I still regard as brilliant) might not be as turned off by "Storytelling."  Other than an explicit anal sex scene (which is blocked off by a cheesy red box in the R-rated version), the material is quite innocuous.
I wouldn't say this movie is anywhere near terrible, and I still look forward to Todd Solondz's next film, but it just needed more.
This film, from indie director Todd Solondz is really two different movies, both of which have to do with storytelling of a sort...the first tale set in a college writing course has Selma Blair as a young woman involved with a cripple who has an affair with her professor and the second story is about Paul Giamatti as a down and out documentary filmmaker who follows a depressed high school kid and his family (including John Goodman and Julie Hagerty) around.
This is a story of continuous failure and humiliation, told through the eyes of feature film maker Todd Solondz, using the perspectives of an aspiring writer (Selma Blair) and an actor-turned-documentary film maker (Paul Giamatti, of "Sideways" acclaim), who use pen and camera to distance themselves from their subject matter in turn.
Todd Solondz is a very good filmmaker, and it's evident with "Happiness" and "Welcome to the Dollhouse," but this film was something that should never have been made.
Not the same types of films as this, but it shows I have an open enough mind when it comes to non-mainstream films.But this film was worthless except as a reminder that going to film school and making one good movie like "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (which I enjoyed) doesn't guarantee you can't make a piece of crap later.I seriously kept waiting for the punchline, but all I got was a lame ending that seemed to be trying to teach me something, but wasn't sure what it wanted to say.If the only problem were a confused message, then maybe the message could be its very lack of a message.
I guess that's fine if you want to be experimental; but I think Solondz should decide whether he's conducting psychology experiments or making movies.
I had seen Todd Solondz' previous work Happiness and thought it clever enough to give Storytelling a try.
This movie is a comedy.From reading others' reviews you might surmise that it has all kinds of deep meanings, hidden messages to critics, juvenile "shocking" moments, and pretentious contempt for the audience.Nonsense!It's just really, really funny.As for it being "hard to watch"...Ridiculous!It's just as funny and rewarding the 10th time you see it.Relax, enjoy..
Solondz splits the film into two parts: 'fiction' and 'non-fiction', both depicting a different scenario exploring characters who are involved in the process of the titular process of storytelling.
Furthermore, Solondz must be extremely sensitive, because he also used the American Movie director to film American Scooby.
The thing that gets me about Solondz, that makes him so different from a lot of other directors, is the way the movie is so black that it's incredibly serious.
As a huge admirer of Todd Solondz's 'Welcome To The Dollhouse' and (especially) 'Happiness', I was eagerly looking forward to this movie, but I can hardly put into words just how let down I was with this awful film.
The movie is populated by unloveable losers and those that exploit them; the inhabitants are either the freakish and ignorant or the depraved and sadistic.Unfortunately his latest film is billed as a comedy, but even an uncomfortable chuckle seems inappropriate in the depressing wake of this vituperative two-part 'expose' on the nature of truth.And while that lofty theme is only intermittently and haphazardly explored, Solondz is unquestionably successful in what one imagines was a primary objective -- to shock the audience with an unabashed combination of sexual taboo and craven human instincts.He's enlisted their services before to much better effect."Happiness," a painfully funny and scary film, offered a twisted sliver of hope that the family at its center would endure after it weathered a series of bizarre interpersonal storms and scandals.
Solondz reportedly took inspiration for his "uneven diptych" from the highly regarded films "Carnal Knowledge" and "Full Metal Jacket," ignoring the fact Kubrick's film didn't just haphazardly explore hypothetically related themes in two entirely unrelated narratives, but developed a series of characters and had them weather the stresses of battle later in the film.In "Storytelling," the parts feel like rough drafts of two different, though no less repugnant movies, and at times it is painfully obvious that Solondz just didn't have enough material or inspiration to make one good movie.
Unfortunately, the ugly subject matter is mirrored by the film's uninteresting camera work, about as solid and distinguished as a South American soap opera.The performances -- from a cast of principals who have nearly all appeared in brilliant comedies -- range from overbearing to underwhelming, not surprising considering the bewildering and sometimes pointless lines they have been given to speak.A dream sequence involving the burning and crucifixion of the mother and father and an appearance on Conan O'Brien is futile and embarrassing, and Solondz's examination of racial and sexual attitudes is almost as foolish as the offensive 1986 stinker "Soul Man."Solondz spares no expense in relating his bleak belief that life trapped between the malls is a living hell for anyone with any sort of sensitivity.
They are as self-serving and stupid as everyone else, and even murderous.Solondz fleshes out the misanthropic round-up by making the few characters with real intelligence in the film -- a precocious younger brother, a Pulitzer Prize winning professor -- predators that use their wiles predominantly to humiliate and defile the weakest people around them.
(In an extended, oblique pun, "American Movie"'s Mike Schank appears as the "Scooby" cameraman.)Oddly, there is little that distinguishes the preachy humanism of the Oscar winning film from Solondz's strident, smarmy brand of outing social hypocrisy.And whatever treatise on fact and fiction was intended, ostensibly how an artist's evocation of truth can become more powerful than the truth itself, is ultimately obscured by a very angry young man's swipe at all of God's creatures.Solondz's nihilism and hatred may be explained by what he has suffered at the hands of the world around him.
If you want to see a gonowhere movie that you can discuss with your friends who all majored in "film" but are now unemployed, watch "Storytelling"..
It was not close to the excellent 'Welcome to the Dollhouse'- which was up there with films like 'Kids', 'Gummo' & 'River's Edge'...With 'Storytelling', Solondz runs out of ideas.He writes a film that is a dead end- the (yawn) relationship between fiction and non-fiction, art & life.
Storytelling is a great movie, at times Solondz could have done better but everything was good.
From "Welcome to the Dollhouse", through "Happiness" to this film, he seems to thrive in misanthropy, delving into the worst aspects of human nature."Storytelling" has two separate segments: "Fiction" deals with a college student (Selma Blair) who breaks up with her disabled boyfriend and has a brutal one-night stand with her creative writing professor.
In my opinion "Storytelling" is better than the over-rated "Happiness" (which just went too far at times).When you want something to make you feel good about life and humanity, don't watch this film..
It is also about, well, storytelling and how easily stories and plots are manipulated for effect.The first half hour, "Fiction," is devoted to a story of a college student, Vi, who is tired of "dating the undergraduates" and ends up a violent and racially charged sex scene with her African American creative writing professor.
Still, if you ever seen any other of Solondz's movies, you can see the whole point of this section coming from a mile away (the dangers of political correctness, the prudishness and hypocrisy of the American middle class, even those claiming to be liberal or progressive, etc.)  And I just couldn't believe that Vi would only say "Don't be racist, don't be racist" in the bathroom scene.
What is also funny about "Nonfiction," which is supposed to be "real," is that it contains completely fictional and even forced plot points: someone is injured and slips into a coma, someone else is hypnotized and told what to do, and even the final, terrible act seems more to come out of a bad TV movie than real life.
that almost encapsulates the entire film:"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you." "But I'm not laughing."The film is about two different forms of storytelling: "Fiction" and "Non-Fiction."In the first story, "Fiction," Solondz shines an interpretive light a creative writing class.A woman with writing aspirations and her cerebral-palsy boyfriend with the same.
hopefully."Like all of Solondz films, people will either be mesmerized by it or despise it, but it's a movie that many should see.
`Storytelling,' a film written and directed by Todd Solondz, is actually made up of a pair of stories combined into a single work.
Despite the excellence performances and the assuredness of the direction, this opening section comes across more as a clever conceit than as a fully developed work in its own right.The second story, which is almost twice as long as the first, creates much more of an impact, due largely to the fact that it gives itself more time for the development of character, milieu and theme.
The story focuses on young Scooby Livingston, a high school senior so devoid of ambition, drive and motivation, that he is literally drifting through life, indifferent to family, school, peers, anything but his pie-in-the-sky dream of becoming a talk show host like Conan O'Brien (who makes a fun cameo appearance in the film).
I'll admit there's some wit and cleverness in the way Solondz weaves every single one of these complaints (and more besides) into the fabric of the film itself, but that's all the wit and cleverness there is; and this doesn't change the fact that the charges are - every single one of them except for the incomprehensible one levelled by Catherine against Vi's story in the first segment of the movie - true.
Filmmaker Todd Solondz once again dips into the pitch dark genre of black comedy/social satire checking out the underbelly of New Jersey suburbia with equal parts repulsion and fascination at how stereotypes often are too good to be true by separating them into two sections: "Fiction" with Blair (giving her best onscreen performance to date) as a coed who's creative writing class is a thorny lesson in life's trickier twists and "Non-Fiction" with dweeby Giamatti (ditto)  as a novice documentary filmmaker attempting to depict the evolution of teenagers in America by focusing his camera on disassociatedly brain dead Webber (deftly daft) and his dysfunctional family.
Todd Solondz's Storytelling could be looked at as a film about film (the second part),and a film about fiction in general both parts).
But once again, Solondz jabs us with the theory that "once you begin writing it all becomes fiction." Within this first short section of this movie, Solondz has set everything up for us: an impenetrable, self-referential mobius strip of a movie.In the second portion of the film, we are told the story of the documentary.
The director generally does 'care' about his subjects but like the typical Solondzian ending "don't be sorry, your movie's a hit", we see the struggle of a filmmaker seeking to please his audience as well as 'staying true' to the art.What is ironic here is that Solondz' characters aren't really "mean-spirited" and "banal" people.
I liked this part of the film better, because it deals with a subject that I think about often, that being the way documentaries work.
STORYTELLING is by the director of WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE and HAPPINESS and, surprisingly, is his most disturbing film.
I do like Todd Solondz and the way he writes his films in general.
On the whole a good film but a disappointment for the Solondz fan whom might have been expecting something brilliant like "happiness" another deconstruction, that of the american dream done before and better than american beauty won oscars for mining the same material..
I think you will miss a lot of what the film has to say about Art, Truth etc.All in all, I thought the movie, allthough harrowing at times, revealed an artist who is achingly honest, someone kind hearted but disturbed by what he sees around him, someone who can still see the beauty in people's screwed up lives.
I've not seen any of Todd Solondz's other films but I sense that he is a truly great director and I would recomend this great movie to anyone who is able to aproach it with an open mind and evaluate it on its merits.
I couldn't watch this film all the way through the first time, as to viewing the "fiction" part of the movie first, and had to force myself to finish the other half to view the other half, which had some humor in it, as to soften the creepiness of some of the characters that you witness.
As in "Welcome to the Dollhouse", Todd Solondz ventures in to the dark themes of suburbia that we don't most often like to talk about, but this film almost leaves you helpless, taking you through cruel experiences of the characters, with nothing to save them..
And besides, the best way to watch any Solondz movie is to not have any idea what it is about.
In The Storytelling, director Todd Solondz introduces a character who are feeling inconsistency with their dreams and their reality, who are reliant of others for achieving their dreams, who are playing their life unplanned.
In The Storytelling, director Todd Solondz introduces a character who are feeling inconsistency with their dreams and their reality, who are reliant of others for achieving their dreams, who are playing their life unplanned.
Todd Solondz Storytelling is too short of a movie.