![\"toysrus\"](\"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/toysrus.png\")
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One of the best shots in recent history. This, right here, is how you say ‘fuck you’.<\/em><\/p>\n Dark Horse (2011) Spoiler-free.<\/i><\/p>\n I should\u2019ve seen this one in theaters. But I didn\u2019t. I listened to people.<\/i> I should never<\/i> listen to people. People are shit.<\/i> By \u2018people\u2019 I mean those-who-tell-you-a-movie-sucks-and-that-it-is-an-unwelcome-departure-from-said-filmmaker. Those <\/i>people. Fuck<\/i> those people.<\/p>\n Why is it that they never caution you about the right<\/i> movies? I would\u2019ve killed for someone to tap me on the shoulder before I saw Damsels in Distress<\/a> and warn me that Whit Stillman\u2014a once perfect filmmaker of remarkable integrity\u2014has decided to cop out and pander to a generation he doesn\u2019t understand, and isn\u2019t even worth<\/em> understanding. But no. They had to warn me about this one instead. It\u2019s likely that Jordan Gelber\u2019s brilliant performance as the titular \u2018dark horse\u2019 is largely what fooled them. He is so good that for the first act of the film, it’s hard to tell if he\u2019s \u2018doing\u2019 smarmy acting, or if he\u2019s really just a smarmy actor. Over the course of the rest of the film, we get to see the full range of what he is capable of, and let me tell you, this guy is one to watch. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see him getting award-bait dramatic work sometime soon.<\/p>\n The supporting actors are all great as well. Selma Blair, Christopher Walken, Mia Farrow, and the rest all turn in refreshingly restrained performances. In fact, it\u2019s quite hard to find a bad performance in any<\/i> Todd Solondz film. Everyone comes to work to work<\/i>. And, as unfortunate as it is that his films have such low budgets, and don\u2019t make much at the box office, I\u2019m sure this helps repel actors who are just in it for the money. One does a film of his out of respect for him, and for the material.<\/p>\n Also worth noting is that this could go down as one of the best movie soundtracks ever to not receive an official Motion Picture Soundtrack. Were it available, I would’ve bought it online right after I finished watching the movie.\u00a0The song choices are absolutely brilliant. And they may seem at first listen like songs that are popular and easy track down, but they’re deceptively obscure. A lot of care was taken by Solondz and whoever else picked the music.<\/p>\n I expect Dark Horse will find proper love and respect years later, much like a similarly misunderstood subversive masterpiece, Freddy Got Fingered<\/a>. The two actually share a lot in common\u2014both center around unsympathetic manchildren who attempt to mold the world to their whims and desires, and are sneakily acerbic satires of the Hollywood comedies of their respective decades. I highly recommend both.<\/p>\n 4 out of 5 Codys.<\/i><\/p>\n Spoiler-free.<\/i><\/p>\n It really pains me to write this negative review, because I’m a huge Whit Stillman fan. Metropolitan<\/a>, Barcelona<\/a>, and\u00a0The Last Days of Disco<\/a>\u00a0(commonly referred to as the \u2018Whit Stillman trilogy\u2019, not because the stories are related, but because they deal with similar themes and have a few of the same actors) are absolutely delightful, and some of my very favorite films. I’ve seen each of them many, many times. Damsels in Distress, I never want to see again.<\/p>\n Before I get into why<\/em>, first, a little background about Whit Stillman. Those three great films I mentioned were released in 1990, 1994, and 1998, respectively\u2014and then we didn’t see anything new from Whit until 2011. In part, because he wanted to take a break and be with his family (admirable, and well-earned) but also due to the fact that the projects he wanted to do kept not getting off the ground. Financing is difficult, even for established filmmakers. Things fall through at the last minute, or don’t happen at all, not necessarily because a project is bad, but because Hollywood is a fickle beast. I’ve had a taste of the gauntlet myself, albeit a small one, and in my experience, this was quite true. Which is not to say that Hollywood is all<\/i> bad\u2014just that its reputation for myopia is well-earned.<\/p>\n One project in particular of Whit’s that kept not happening is a dream project called ‘Dancing Mood’, set in Jamaica during the 1960’s and centered around the church music of Kingston. According to him, it’s been an absolute nightmare to get made. He began working on putting it together around the time he was making The Last Days of Disco, and it\u2019s been a roller coaster ever since. For years, I would check his IMDB page and its message board every so often for new scraps of information about this project, or any <\/i>project of his pipeline\u2014and then one day, out of nowhere, there was Damsels in Distress. A Whit project no one had previously heard of, suddenly in production and raring to go. To say I was \u2018excited\u2019 is an understatement. The ‘Whit Stillman trilogy’ is like the Star Wars<\/a> trilogy of independent films about 20-somethings talking. (Not in popularity<\/i> of course, just in significance and sacrality to those who love them.) And Damsels in Distress, sadly, is The Phantom Menace<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Written and Directed by Todd Solondz
\n86 min.<\/p>\n
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\nLook, yes<\/i> Dark Horse is a bit of a departure\u2014but only in the sense that it lacks a certain ‘obviousness’, if you will. Previously, if you\u2019d seen one Solondz movie, you\u2019d seen them all, and I don\u2019t mean that in a bad way\u2014I like all his films. I just mean that he has a very distinct vibe and approach. With Dark Horse, you aren\u2019t immediately sure what it is you\u2019re watching. There are Solondz-y undertones, but the overtones are jarringly \u2018mainstream\u2019. It is not immediately clear if said overtones are intended to be satirical, or if Solondz has simply ‘gone soft’. Only towards the end of the first act does it start to become clear what his intentions are with the piece. Unfortunately, some viewers still took the entire thing at face value.<\/p>\n![\"damsels\"](\"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/damsels.jpg\")
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\nDamsels in Distress (2011)<\/b>
\n<\/b>Written and Directed by Whit Stillman
\n117 min.<\/p>\n