Arts & Entertainment

From Happiness To Wartime

Writer-director Todd Solondz infuses his new film
with singular satire of a Jewish family.

Naomi Pfefferman
Jewish Journal of Greater L.A.

a 'seat' as the people buried in Israel? And
you've got such a small piece of land to
begin with; why would you want to take
eering from behind oversize up space there? It's perverse'
green-framed glasses, dressed The writer-director has been reviled in
in rumpled khakis and yellow
some quarters for this kind of satiric per-
sneakers, Todd Solondz looked the part of spective. But as the New York Times noted
independent cinema's reigning nerd incen- in its laudatory review of Life, "To dismiss
diary as he discussed his new film, Life
his attitude as cruel or contemptuous is to
During Wartime, which turns his caustic
miss the compassion and the almost rab-
lens on assimilated American Jewry.
binical ethical seriousness that drives his
Life is a kind of sequel to his suburban
inquiries."
despair comedy, Happiness (1998), which
Solondz, 50, is almost talmudic in his
revolved around the dysfunctional Jordan
discourse. He grew up in a kosher home
clan and included characters such as a
in New Jersey and attended yeshiva dur-
nice doctor dad with a predilection for
ing elementary school but now describes
little boys. While the Jordans in Happiness
himself as a "devout atheist!' (Asked why
were Jewish only in Solondz's mind, he
he peppers his speech with "Thank God;'
makes them explicitly MOT in Life During
he retorts, "It's a metaphor.") Yet, with
Wartime, which he calls his "post-9/11 film!' his wife Emily Horowitz, he is consider-
The new movie opens as the pedophile
ing a "Chabad-type" nursery school for
emerges from prison while his ex-wife,
his 18-month-old son, Elroy, so the child
Trish Jordan (Allison Janney), prepares for can feel part of the community if he so
her son's bar mitzvah and falls for a home- chooses.
ly new beau (Michael Lerner) who attracts
Solondz's mother fled Nazi-occupied
her because — like her — he wishes to be Antwerp, Belgium, as a girl; and that
buried in Israel.
trauma permeated his childhood home.
"Many Jews want to live the good life
It also inspired a segment of Storytelling,
in the States and then get the good life
in which a daughter of survivors mouths
in the afterlife by being buried in Israel,"
platitudes about the Shoah in order to
Solondz, who is also known for Welcome
raise funds for Jewish charities while mis-
to the Dollhouse (1995) and Storytelling
treating her Salvadoran maid. When the
(2001), said in his gravelly nasal whine.
housekeeper gasses the woman and her
"But what about all the people who died
family to death, it is punishment "for trivi-
in the Holocaust — they don't get as good alizing and exploiting the tragedy of the

p

Holocaust': Solondz
said.
Not that he
is oblivious to
Allison Janney, left, as Trish, and Ally Sheedy, right, as Helen,
modern-day anti-
two of three Jewish sisters who explore the boundaries of
Semitism. "Jews
forgiveness, family and love in Life During Wartime
have flourished
in this country so
Solondz envisions the pedophile as
it seems unseemly to talk about it," he
non-Jewish; in Life During Wartime, we
said. "But in the larger world, it's like the
learn that his ex-wife, Trish, has tried to
monster you can't beat down; it's tireless
distance herself from him by "becoming
and endless and goes from Europe to the
almost ba'alei teshuvah," Solondz said. "In
Arab world."
her mind, she married the gentile, and see
In Life During Wartime, the bar mitz-
what happened?"
vah boy, Timmy, is writing a speech
But just as Solondz pokes fun at the
inspired by his Torah portion, which
Zionist Trish, he satirizes Jordan's pro-
deals with "Joseph forgiving his brothers
Palestinian sister Helen (Ally Sheedy), a
for having screwed him:' Solondz said.
rebellious screenwriter who has acquired a
Timmy asks his mother whether one
tattoo that reads "Jihad" in Arabic.
should forgive terrorists who have a good
"It's the best thing she can think of
reason for their actions; she is mortified
to appall her Jewish parents:' Sheedy
and responds with cliched answers.
quipped.
"The movie also deals with how iso-
Solondz joked that his upcoming film,
lated Americans are from the reality of
Dark Horse, is "the first time CAA likes my
war — which also serves as a metaphor
script, because there's no child molesta-
for the war within ourselves, the way we
tion, rape or masturbation in it. I'm hop-
all have the capacity for kindness as well
ing it will be a success, God will — and
as cruelty or evil;' Solondz said "One of
he stops himself. "Knock wood," he substi-
the things that troubled me about the
tuted, with a laugh.
response to Happiness was that some
people felt sympathy for the character
[of the child rapist]:' he added. "While I
Life During Wartime is scheduled
found him to be a tragic figure ... sympa-
to open Friday, Aug.13. Check your
thy I could never have for someone who
local movie listings.
succumbed to such instincts!'

ews

14 Nate Bloom
• Mt Special to the Jewish News

,1

1111•93
a r Mitzvah Tales
Last week, Gabrielle Birkner, a
(11 reporter with the Forward news-
y.= paper, posted an item about
) how actor Paul Rudd (Dinner for
Schmucks) had
been a D.J. at her
1992 bat mitzvah.
I long knew that
Rudd had worked
as a bar/bat mitz-
vah D.J. while try-
ing to break into
Paul Rudd
acting but never
saw him in action
until Birkner posted excerpts
of her bat mitzvah video that
included Rudd. Birkner says Rudd
"turned out to be the perfect

11:1

a

46

August 12 • 2010

choice for the event." You can
view the video here: http://vimeo.
corn/13856676.
A couple of weeks ago, a
Rochester, N.Y., newspaper had an
item about local dentist Stephen
Korn, 50. He had just fixed, for
free, the teeth of former child
actor Brandon Cruz, 48. Cruz, who
co-starred in the TV series The
Courtship of Eddie's Father, has
been a punk rocker for 30 years
and broke a lot of his teeth on the
microphone. Cruz couldn't afford
the $40,000 in reconstructive
surgery and asked for help on his
website. Korn, by chance, was look-
ing to say "hello" to Cruz, visited
his website and saw the request.
Korn met Cruz in Israel in 1972
while there for his bar mitzvah.
Cruz was there to make a movie.

The Independent,
a U.K. paper, just
ran a long pro-
file of Mark
Zuckerberg, 26,
the founder and
a CEO of Facebook
(now valued at
Mark
$40
billion). The
Zuckerberg
Independent
reports that
Zuckerberg, the son of a dentist
father (who billed himself as the
"painless Dr. Z") and a psycholo-
gist mother, had an early passion
for Hebrew and for the sport of
fencing. The latter interest might
have been inspired by Star
Wars, which was the theme of
Zuckerberg's bar mitzvah.
Finally, the website Backstage.
corn had a charming profile of

actress Cameron Diaz by Fern
Champion, the casting agent who
discovered her. Diaz, a model, was
looking to break into acting in
1994. Champion was looking for
an actress to co-star opposite Jim
Carrey in The Mask. Long story
short, Champion took a chance on
Diaz and gave her the part, despite
her lack of experience, because
she was bowled over by Diaz's
naturalness, good humor and
infectious giggle. In 2001, Diaz was
a big star but accepted an invite to
Champion's son's bar mitzvah and
made all the other boys and men
envious by refusing to dance with
anyone but Champion's son. Last
summer, she invited Champion
and her son to the ceremony in
which she was given a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. ❑