Independent filmmaker Todd Solondz is leaning toward the mainstream in his latest film “Dark Horse,” but the irony and insight into dysfunctional families which fans loved in his earlier work remain common place.
Solondz, in a news conference Monday at the Venice Film festival, compared his latest film, starring Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken, to American comedies like “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”
But with the comparison came a warning.
In the movie business “the manchild has been an overused genre,” he said. “Frankly if Dark Horse was the end of those movies I would feel I could go to sleep a happy man,” he said.
He describes “Dark Horse,” about a college dropout mama’s boy called Abe — portrayed by Jordan Gelber — as being imbued with a “kind of melancholy.”
The film — much of which is reminiscent of other work “Happiness” and “Life During Wartime” — charts the story of a boy who doesn’t totally want to grow up. “As much as it’s comedy of sorts, I never really laugh,” Solondz said of the film.
“It’s sorrowful and there is a kind of melancholy … the main character has so many troubles and serious misfortunes that befall him I feel a kind of tenderness for Abe,” he said.
Abe, in his 30s, lives at home and works listlessly at the real estate company of his father, played by Walken. His life is the opposite of his successful brother, a doctor, played by “The Hangover” star Justin Bartha. Farrow plays Abe’s mother.
Abe’s situation is “very symptomatic of a consumerist society where ‘infantilization’ is encouraged,” ventured Solondz.
“Dark Horse” is in the running for the festival’s top honor — the Golden Lion — to be awarded on Sept. 10 at the close of the festival on Venice’s Lido island.
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More