Welcome to the Dollhouse
Directed by Todd Solondz
Written by Todd Solondz
Starring Heather Matarazzo, Brendon Sexton III
Released May 24th, 1996
Junior High and High School Suck! That’s the theses of director Todd Solondz via his second feature film effort, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Solondz set out to make a darker version of the kind of High School movie that had been around for years but always felt a little fake or a little too sunny and optimistic. Solondz’s vision of Junior High, via main character Dawn Wiener, played by Heather Mattarazzo, was one in which the dangers of High School could be literal dangers as threats and taunts can turn to actual, potential, violence.
Welcome to the Dollhouse introduces the unusual character of Dawn Wiener. Dawn is a gawky, gangly, socially awkward 12 year old girl. She’s remarkably resilient and thoughtful despite having spent much of her time at school and at home being either bullied or forgotten. At school she’s called ‘Weiner-Dog’ or some other choice insults too nasty to be printed here. At home, Dawn’s college bound older brother, Mark (Matthew Faber) and her ballerina younger sister, Missy (Daria Kalinina) are both adored by their parents while Dawn is a pariah.
Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here.
