Storytelling

Rating:
Summary: Unfocused and pointless...
Review: Todd Solondz creates a bland and rather pointless trip into the heart of suburban life. Two Unmated and drab scenes make up "Storytelling". Ultimately, both 'Fiction' and 'Nonfiction' prove a troubling path some independent filmmakers have recently embarked upon: Satiring their own dull roots into something it was not - exciting. In ending, it proves nothing more than someone taking a bad script and making it into a horrible movie with no redeeming qualities.

I suggest avoiding 'Storytelling'. It's a very bad movie...

Rating:
Summary: Solipsistic Ourobourian Odessey
Review: My needle keeps alternating between "Genius" and "Tripe." So I averaged. Solondz cynically or sarcastically commits the same social sins of which he accuses his characters. I've got it on DVD, I watched the director's cut--no censoring rectangle to please the MPAA. I don't mind him going outside the limits of "nice" society; nothing in this film is shocking after Baise Moi or just about anything by John Waters.

The utter banality of the film and characters screams "Tripe!" A wannabe write with pink highlights in her hair. Scooby, the dude who's smoked away all his ambitions and might want to be a TV talk show host. His cookie cutter family. The Pulitzer Prize winning teacher who enjoys humiliating his students. It's almost as if Solondz randomly selected click-art from the DSM-IV to populate this spectacle.

Yet, the self-referential nature of the product, the way Solondz dares to show film-making as a confounding of vision and object, makes one wonder ... could it be "Genius?" I do love it when a film commits the same sins it ostracizes in its characters. This one swallows its tail over and over again, committing the stereotyping, the racism, the loss of focus for which it blames its players.

Frankly, I don't know. Perhaps we need an unsophisticated child to turn off the TV and tell us that the Emperor is really naked. But that would be too obvious, wouldn't it?

The DVD lets you choose between widescreen and pan-and-scan, between the theatrical release and the director's cut.

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Rating:
Summary: About the Red Rectangle on the VHS...
Review: Just a quick note about the red rectagle that comes up on the screen during an *extremely* important scene of this movie. Someone else mentioned that the scene should have been changed so that it could have been viewed without the scene, but this is something that the director refused to do. When Storytelling was reviewed by the MPAA for rating, the director was told that this sceen must be cut inorder to receive the R rating. Instead of destroying the movie the director decided that he would keep the scene, but with that he included the red rectangle to cover what was actually occuring. This was the only way that the movie could have recieved MPAA approval. Instead of ruining the movie I belive that Solonz is making a strong statement about censorship and how the MPAA effects the art of Film. So you do not want to see the big rectangle? Do not buy the movie on VHS. This is how it was shown in theaters, and personally I would have rather seen the original scene with the rectangle than a completely new one.

Rating:
Summary: DVD OR NOTHING
Review: TWO SEGMENTS: 1. FICTION & 2. NON~FICTION. *WARNING* YOU DO NOT WANT TO WATCH THIS MOVIE ON VHS. IT IS CENSORED. DURING AN EXPLICIT SEX SCENE A HIDIOUS RED RECTANGLE POPS UP COVERING A VITAL PART OF THE FIRST SEGMENT. I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT. THE SCENE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TONED DOWN IF ANYTHING. BUT COVERED UP...ONE THING ABOUT A GOOD MOVIE IS THAT YOU FORGET YOUR WATCHING A MOVIE AND YOU JUST GET SWEPT UP IN IT. THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DO WHEN IT IS CENSORED. TO BE HONEST I THOUGHT IT WAS SOME KIND OF JOKE. SO I URGE YOU TO GET THIS ON DVD AND TAKE IN THE FULL TODD SOLONDZ EXPERIANCE. IT'S WORTHY.

Rating:
Summary: Uncaring, barely watchable
Review: I rented this b/c Franka Potente had a bit (very bit) part. I did not enjoy it at all. The director seems to be on a downhill trajectory. The characters in this film are unhappy, callow, coy, and unfortunately not engaging. Moreover, the director seems disgusted by both film making and viewing. Unfortunate.

Rating:
Summary: Lacking a point in the wake of "Happiness"
Review: "Storytelling" appears to take the same vicious aim as "Happiness", but fails to stand on its own as either a continuation of that movie or a fresh indictment of the human animal under pressure to behave civilized as it navigates privilege and affluence. Indeed, if you have already seen "Happiness", you will not be shocked at all by the new vulnerablities Solondz is attempting to expose. In fact, you'll be confused as to the point of all of it, because the premise of the movie is wrapped up in some sort of juxtaposition of creators of fiction and nonfiction that few will understand. That leaves you, the viewer left with the rest of the subtexts in the film and the Solondz signature of not backing away when the characters do something subhuman. It'll give you a few things to think and talk about, and the drama is definitely bracing at times,but it is in no way the gut punch that "Happiness" was nor is it a new angle on the pathos of perversity. Oh, if any of you are easily offended by controversy, especially of a sexual nature, I don't suggest you ever, ever be curious about this or any other Solondz works. Just a warning for the unaware.

Rating:
Summary: Another Gem
Review: All I can say is WOW! With each consecutive film that Todd Solondz creates, the subject gets more interesting, the atmosphere gets more uncomfortable and tense...I thought this movie was great!

Divided into two unrelated stories, one is "fiction," the other is non-fiction.

I think it's interesting how the first story is called fiction. It's about a writing student, Vi, who ultimately writes her best story based on a real experience. Yet her teacher, Mr. Scott, says, "It may have actually happened, but once you write it down...it's fiction." I never thought of it that way. There are two versions, a rated and unrated. Personally I prefer to see the unrated version of any movie because that is ultimately what the director envisioned, that's what he or she wants us to see. The most disturbing scene is of course the sex scene between Vi and Mr. Scott, where she is forced to scream racist obscenities in the act. However, I think that it's a pretty raw representation of how a person who thinks she is open-minded, worldly and unprejudiced, clearly is often kidding herself.

The second story, "non-fiction" is a little funnier, about a down-and-out documentarian who wants to film the typical family/student growing up in 21st century suburbia. I can't say that I know what it's like to look at the world through the eyes of one who grew up as a total outcast, but it seems to me that Solondz' take on life in suburbia is way too exaggerated. For example, that little kid, Mikey, is freakishly evil. His mother, beautifully portrayed by Julie Hagerty, is like a cookie cut version of a Barbie sans personality and all. However, it's possible that the exaggeration was necessary in order to illustrate a point that people living in or growing up in that environment can be quite sheltered, ignorant of the rest of the world less privileged, hypocritical.

This film goes quickly, it feels like it ended so suddenly. Now that I think about it though, it probably ended right where it was most necessary. I also think whoever was in charge of casting this film was right on...excellent cast all the way through.

The humor, in classic-Solondz form, is DARK, biting and hits hard. Again, as with Happiness, this film is not at all for the lighthearted. Please be mindful of the fact that if there is ANYTHING that may offend you, Solondz will find it in one of his films. I know of no other filmmaker who is able to take the concept of "no sacred cows" as far as he can...and I think that's good. None of these more "offensive" issues are done strictly to be gratuitous. He films them in a way that almost seems, dare I say, tasteful?!

"Storytelling" has a lot of depth in terms of what motivations people have to do the things they do. It makes me think about our belief systems, our morals, our "issues," and why we have them. It makes me think about how authentic people really are with each other, how much of themselves, emotionally, intellectually and otherwise, people are willing to admit to the rest of the world.

Rating:
Summary: Not One of Todd Solondz's Better Movies.
Review: I really like Todd Solondz, I loved Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse. I was really disappointed after watching Storytelling. Storytelling is 2 movies, fiction and non fiction. I feel it would have been better to expand on one of the movies (I would rather non fiction) because both movies felt really incomplete. I like Leo Fitzpatrick, and thought he was great in Kids and Bully, but I felt his performance in fiction was very weak. Fiction really was a waste, and non fiction could have been a great story had Solondz invested a little more time working on that. The entire Storytelling movie is only 84 minutes, which is short for one movie and he put two in there.

Storytelling comes off as two unfinished scripts that Solondz had laying around that he decided to stick together. Let's just say it didn't turn out quite as well as it did for the Beatles with A Day in the Life.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, Disturbing, and a Fantastic Movie
Review: I can't believe people are giving this film 1 star. Storytelling is one of the best films I've seen in a while. Yes it's disturbing -- yes it's at times shocking -- and yes maybe even a scene or two were a bit unnecessary, but director Todd Solondz is brave enough to take that extra step to keep the viewer engaged by showing them the unexpected. This movie is unlike anything you'll ever see - a "Fiction" and "Nonfiction" story put together in one movie, both being able to capture your attention. Before you pass on this movie based on all the 1-star reviews, give it a chance. You may just enjoy this very different film.

Rating:
Summary: Satisfying
Review: To me, the meaning behind the Fiction/Non-Fiction split is to point out the irony that the "Fiction" story uses more realism and the "Non-Fiction" story is so over-the-top, it couldn't be real.