Dark Horse (2012)

First I want to make it clear that the reason I disliked this movie is not the subject matter. I like movies about losers and loners and Solondz treated this thoroughly unlikable character with as much dignity as possible. He should be applauded for taking such a risk. I'm not even against the implausibility of the story. Everyone must surrender reality when watching movies. The problem is that it is a poorly made movie. Almost every scene is incomplete. No dialogue to summarize the importance of the scene. Scene after meaningless scene goes by, like looking at pages in a magazine. One scene is even cropped with a character in mid sentence. And a pivotal scene is totally missing: the reason Abe ends up in the hospital. That would have been a very important scene! Then, if you weren't already annoyed with the meandering story, the story goes off into a fantasy. The problem is, the characters in his fantasy are real life characters so you don't know if what you're watching is really happening or the fantasy. Then the movie ends in typical Hollywood fashion, except it seems like Solondz didn't know how to end his movie so he tacked on no less than 4 endings! You will never understand nor care why these characters act the way they do nor understand how the events in the movie changed their lives for the better of worse. By the end of the movie, everybody is sort of just standing around or staring off into space, just like the audience.

"Dark Horse" is the best movie Todd Solondz has done since "Happiness". It took me two viewings to "get" it, but once I "got" it I have to say the movie has stayed with me. I now conclude that "Dark Horse" is a surrealist film in the tradition of late-era Bunuel and recent David Lynch. It has more in common with Solondz' "Palindromes" than any of his other work. It isn't meant to be taken literally. Like "Life During Wartime", which was a both a sequel and a re-imagining of "Happiness", the perspective is skewed and left unexplained until the very end. Unfortunately, the explanation isn't clear to those expecting a movie closer in spirit to "Welcome To The Dollhouse".Almost no one reviewing the movie here on IMDb goes into much detail over (here come the spoilers) Donna Murphy's character. It is, in fact, the crux of the movie: The film is mostly told through Marie's eyes. Abe's perspective is shown here and there (especially in the coma vision he has at Toys R Us) but if you see the majority of the film as Marie's fantasy of Abe-- her dark horse --navigating his fruitless life, then it makes much more poignant sense.Also, it's clear (to me at least) that, as obnoxious as Abe is, he is also the most un-self-conscious character in the movie, and therefore a relief to Marie and Miranda. At one point Miranda even asks him if he is for real; she wonders if his demeanor is a put-on, some sort of ironic act he is performing for her. When we meet Mahmoud for the first time, we understand why she asked: Mahmoud is as affected as Abe is unaffected. It is this unaffected poise that compels Marie to root for him, and also causes Miranda to realize that maybe she might care about things after all-- just not to Abe's liking, which is the tragedy of the movie. After infecting him with the disease that kills him, she cannot even bear to tell him what he wants to hear, and he dies shortly after. It all boils down to the last shot of Marie, daydreaming at work, perhaps dancing with her dark horse, the wrong horse to bet on, the one she was sure was going to break out and win. The revelation that Abe's dad also thought of him as a dark horse (in a scene that may or may not be from beyond the grave) ties it all together as well.I hope anyone who saw this movie and reviewed it here goes back and watches it again, because it is amazing. Even if you liked it, I think you might have missed something about it the first time around. Never has the phrase "rewards repeat viewings" actually meant something than with this dark horse of a movie.

Todd Solondz obviously doesn't like people. If he did he wouldn't give us characters as thoroughly unlikable as Abe and Miranda, make them the leads in his disquieting, fantasy 'rom-com' "Dark Horse" and then set them up for our ridicule, (the 'comedy' comes from how much we laugh at these characters rather than with them). Abe is fat, unattractive and obnoxious with it and Jordan Gelber plays him superbly. Miranda is a would-be beauty who has let herself go; let herself go to the extent that she is prepared to marry Abe, a man she doesn't even like let alone love. Selma Blair plays her as a one-dimensional loser making her equally difficult to like. Abe lives at home with his parents, (brilliant performances from Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow), and works for his dad, though to be honest he doesn't do much work.This is typical Solondz; a miserablist, myopic vision of humanity but without the brilliance that distinguished earlier pictures like "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Happiness". If I describe this as a 'pathetic' picture I don't mean that it's bad. It's very well written, directed and acted, (Donna Murphy is terrific as the secretary who fuels Abe's fantasies), but it's full of people you would cross town, never mind the street, to avoid and whatever handicaps you might have yourself it makes you glad you're not like anyone up there on the screen.

Sometimes I see a movie that I really enjoy, and then I have to stop and wonder what "normal" people would think about it? Here is one such film. Relentlessly observant, sardonically hilarious, and ultimately kind of tragic, this movie demonstrates that irony sometimes reveals the truth better than sincerity.The plot of "Dark Horse" involves a childish thirty-something toy- collector who lives with his family and works for his father's company. He finds love -- or something which is close enough for him -- in a quiet, depressed, over-medicated, sullen woman he meets at a friend's wedding. Full of unrealistic notions and childish bravado, he can't help but propose to her on their first date. Unexpectedly, she accepts -- not, as is later revealed, because she loves him -- but rather, because she kind of hates herself, and derives some kind of masochistic pleasure out of the idea of living with this man and having his children!Yes, this is extremely dark territory, but it's rich in ironic humor and the sting of truth. In fact, I'm not sure which is the richer moment -- her confession, or his unbelievably clueless reaction to it.In all, "Dark Horse" is a very good film that many people simply will not enjoy. If you've seen any of the other works of Todd Solondz ("Welcome to the Dollhouse," "Storytelling"), you will understand why.Solondz's films are ironically funny, quietly tragic examinations of people who don't quite understand themselves or the world around them. His characters often find themselves adrift in life, lost on the road to happiness, looking for whatever promise or hope they might find -- often to sadly comical effect. His films might make you laugh, make you squirm uncomfortably, give you the chills that come with seeing something truthful revealed, or all three at once. His films are ironic exaggerations of the world around us -- holding up an unflattering funhouse mirror to the faults and vanities that we all live with and try to hide or deny."Dark Horse" certainly isn't territory for those looking for a quick escapist flick, but for those looking for something richer, something darker, something ironic and funny but also truthful -- well, this film hits that spot quite well.