Storytelling
Directed by Todd Solondz
This is one of those disturbing films that lingers with you for a long while afterwards, although you are not immediately sure why. Set in two sections, “Fiction” and “Non-Fiction”, Storytelling deals with themes of exploitation, racism, teenage homosexuality and power.
The Fiction section opens with a sex scene between Vi (Selma Blair) and cerebral palsy sufferer, Marcus (Leo Fitzpatrick), a couple who take a creative writing course together. Their sadistic tutor, Mr Scott (Robert Wisdom) delights in relentlessly criticising the student’s stories and seducing and degrading the females in his class. When Marcus breaks up with Vi as he fears “the kinkiness is gone”, Vi seeks sexual comfort and learns first hand about Mr Scott’s sick fetish in a very graphic scene, which had to be censored in the US. Solondz used a red box to censor the action for American crowds, but the Australian audience is allowed to view all and it’s surprising that this film escaped an R-rating. Ironically, Vi’s next piece of “Fiction” is a true account of her experience.
Non-fiction follows Toby (Paul Giamatti), an unfulfilled shoe seller aspiring to become a documentary maker. He wants to make a short film about modern youth and the trials of high school and finds his perfect subject in the form of Scooby, a classic depressed, no-hope stoner who dreams of becoming a talk show host. Scooby’s conventional father (John Goodman), naive mother and two younger brothers also become involved in the documentary, which ends up exploiting the lot of them. This section is far longer than Fiction and at times it drags, but there are plenty of twists to keep it entertaining.
As always, Todd Solondz (director of Welcome to the Doll House and Happiness) presents us with a fairly nasty view of life but it’s decent film nonetheless. The complex characters are portrayed realistically, in low-key by an all-round talented cast. With sharp dialogue, plenty of wit and subtle humour of the blackest variety, Storytelling proves to be a clever and memorable film.
BRONWEN
