Weiner-Dog (2016) - Todd Solondz

Todd Solondz's Weiner-Dog is a brutally honest exploration of the human condition, chronicling the dysfunctional lives of four unique sets of characters, offering up individual vignettes, each of which is thinly connected through the passing of a Daschshund (Weiner Dog).  Todd Solondz's Weiner Dog may appear more light-hearted than the filmmakers typical films, but as the film progresses it becomes apparent that the film has the same subversive humor, offering up a funny and piercing portrait of loneliness.  This loveable Weiner-Dog first encounters a young boy of a wealthy family, a child that is recently recovering from a battle with cancer, the weiner-dog being his only semblance of a friend.  From there the daschshund is saved from euthanization by a lonely veterinary technician, who soon sets off on a road trip with an old high school crush, a young man who himself is struggling with drug addiction, hurting due to the death of his father and inability to communicate clearly with his mentally handicapped brother.  I won't go into too much detail of all of these stories, but Todd Solondz has created a deeply effective portrait of loneliness, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the four stories main protagonists progress in age, from the first being about a small young boy to the last being an elderly lady who is being visited by her granddaughter, who herself is suffering from insecurities and internal pain.  Weiner-Dog is brutally honest about life itself, not being cynical at all, but simply arguing that the struggle with loneliness and regret is a part of the human condition.  All four of these stories deal with loneliness but they come at this aspect of humanity from different directions, from the importance of companionship in the second story, to how loneliness can create a disenfranchised mentality that festers negativity and anger, with the third story being about a film professor played by Danny Devito who has accepted himself as a failure.  Weiner-Dog is a film that laughs at the absurdity of life, finding the humor in the rollercoaster ride of sadness, joy, companionship and isolation that makes up the human condition.  Featuring Todd Solondz unique brand of dark humor and brutal honesty, Weiner-Dog is another memorable dramedy from the maverick filmmaker, one that may not stand among his best, but still offers some very affecting sequences of genuine sorrow and truths about what it is to be human.

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