•I’m not so sure why blogging about Life During Wartime would be such a necessary thing for me to do, but after spending time watching it not responding would be wasteful.
•Todd Solondz reunites the characters from his previous films Happiness, as well as Welcome to the Dollhouse. All the roles are played by actors bearing little resemblance to the actors of the previous films (Palindromes?). The story picks up with Trish Maplewood and her two children, where she is a single mother finding love in an older man who seems oddly paired with her. They share the same values and Trish is convinced her suitor is normal. It’s not red hot passion, but everyone involved seems to enjoy all of this. The children are naturally confused. Timmy, who’s preparing to bar mitzvahed, takes umbrage not only as concerned family member but as the man of the house.
•Wartime picks up from where Happiness left off. Bill Malpewood has been released from prison. Joy Jordan is married to a man who dines her and presents a gift in the exact same manner as it happened in Happiness. And yet the repeated action, the familiar story that leaps into tired dialog, it’s still done in an odd and yet totally natural way. Joy is not only revisited by déjà vu but by the ghosts of her past as well. It’s almost as if these characters, as well as Solondz himself are trying to make amends for previous transgressions. They feel haunted by their guilt and hypothesize a solution of forgiveness to make good and rid themselves of their pain.
•Life During Wartime isn’t a very good movie. It relies heavily on Solondz’s other films to understand what’s going on (which I suppose could only work for a director like him). The story isn’t much but a reprise of what happened to everyone years later. The most important conversation comes form Bill with his oldest son Billy. Bill hunts his son down, questions and catches up in the most difficult and uncomfortable way possible. The outcome seems to comfort both men, and the audience could possibly feel the same way, too. But not everything is perfect. For every bit of closure there is in this story many more mistakes are made. The only successes seem to come from those who are honest, and the biggest failures seem to come from those who don’t stick up for themselves.
