‘All of junior high school sucks…’
Adolescence is a difficult time for anyone. In recent years, projects such as Eight Grade and Pen15 have attempted to demonstrate a more realistic portrayal of life as a teenager. Welcome to the Dollhouse pre-dates both of those projects by 25 years or so, but it is cut from the same cloth. By casting 13-year-old Heather Matarazzo in the lead role, writer-director Todd Solondz grounds Welcome to the Dollhouse in reality in a way that is at odds with other films of the era (Solondz’s movie couldn’t be more different to Clueless, for example – another film released in 1995). That being said, this decision is only partly successful…
Dawn (Matarazzo) is an awkward seventh-grader on the cusp of a burgeoning sexuality. She must contend with Brandon (Brendan Sexton), Dawn’s psychotic classmate, her nerdy older brother Mark (Matthew Faber) and Mark’s smouldering, high-school bandmate, Steve (Eric Mabius).
Matarazzo’s awkward demeanour perfectly suits her character and the young, inexperienced cast do a great job in bringing the high school experience to life – in all of its mundane glory. Solondz’s script is clever rather than laugh-out-loud funny, and Welcome to the Dollhouse stands as an appropriate companion piece to his other ’90s classic, Happiness.
Whilst a little light on plot, Welcome to the Dollhouse is unique enough and strange enough to cut through in what is crowded field. Proof if anymore were needed that Todd Solondz is a singular filmmaker on the cinematic landscape.