Film List Independent Movies Pt. III 

Welcome To The Dollhouse reminds us of our school days with brutal accuracy. Many films treat this time as a kind of paradise of growing up. This film, on the other hand, seems like a shock, because we see how cruel children can be against each other - and how deep these wounds are! Probably everyone still has the faces of the students who tortured us back then. Would we meet them on the street today - could we forgive them? On the other hand, how many children have we humiliated and humiliated ourselves? I think this hatred continues to this day. Heather Matarazzo plays Dawn Wiener. She is extremely unpopular, her glasses are crooked, her hairstyle, face colour and clothes are crooked: Nothing fits. Dawn is a hopeless geek. We experience her during a painful ritual in the cafeteria with a loaded tray: she looks for a table where she is not rejected, far away from everyone, unnoticed. Her nickname: "Wiener Dog", sometimes also "Lesbo" or simply "Stupid". When asked why a classmate hates her, Dawn gets a direct answer: "You're ugly." Dawn is not ugly, but she has the charisma of a victim. She is the target for sadists. Her only friend in school is a boy, much smaller than herself, whose nickname is "faggot". Lesbo and Faggot are not necessarily homosexual. For the other students, they simply represent everything you don't want to be under any circumstances. They are what everyone is afraid of! Welcome to The Dollhouse is not a sociological study, but a comedy. We are confronted with Dawn's suffering, but we also experience the funny sides of her person. Dawn's older brother is a nerd, her younger sister Ballerina. Her brother Mark (Matthew Faber) wants to attend a good college and founds a garage band. For this project he even wins the popular Steve (Eric Mabius) as a singer. Steve is already grown up and handsome - and Dawn gets soft knees when he is around. He's the guy who just likes to break women's hearts, but doesn't even notice Dawn. Dawn doesn't know much about sex, she's pretty unenlightened, but ready to learn. For Steve she would do anything! Meanwhile she is haunted by Brandon (Brendan Sexton Jr.). Dawn is smart enough to know that boys her age like to show feelings by appearing hostile. In one of the most beautiful scenes Brandon arranges a date with her to "rape" her (which of course doesn't happen). Scene by scene, Solondz's film reenacts the torment at school for a teenager like Dawn and proves her resilience. We hope that one day she will take revenge by being successful and popular, while the cheerleaders may lead a miserable life! Welcome to The Dollhouse is the debut of Todd Solondz, who won Sundance in 1996. He gives every detail his ruthless attention and that is the key to Solondz satire. The little things are: how Dawn looks in the mirror every day, how her dress sits and if there are any tiny signs of hope? If you can see Welcome To The Dollhouse without having bad memories of your own - be happy! Because then you were happier than Dawn is at that moment.