Themes: Suburban Dysfunction, High School Life, Filmmaking
Main Cast: Selma Blair, Leo Fitzpatrick, Aleksa Palladino, Robert Wisdom, Noah Fleiss
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
From the controversial director of Happiness comes another dark look at New Jersey, this time broken into two separate stories. The first is a 26-minute segment entitled "Fiction," which highlights the life of Marcus (Leo Fitzpatrick), an aspiring writer who was born with deformities due to cerebral palsy. He unsuccessfully tries to read a new short story to his girlfriend Vi (Selma Blair), and leaves her after the story is similarly dismissed by his fellow students and teacher, Mr. Scott (Robert Wisdom), a black Pulitzer Prize winner. Vi approaches Mr. Scott in a bar one night and agrees to go home with him, recalling a "fictional" account of their experience in the next class. The second segment, titled "Nonfiction," follows Toby Oxman (Paul Giamatti), a thirtysomething sad sack who gets the idea to make a documentary of contemporary suburban teenage life. Looking for subjects, he runs into Scooby (Mark Webber), a disaffected, dim young man who dreams of being a TV star. Scooby's home life is highly dysfunctional, with a strict father (John Goodman), a prim and proper mother (Julie Hagerty), a football player brother (Noah Fleiss), and a younger brother Mikey (Jonathan Osser), who continually chats up the family's put-upon maid Consuelo (Lupe Ontiveros). Consuelo is soon banished from the household due to her involvement with Mikey, becoming an outcast just like Scooby. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
Review
Todd Solondz mines familiar territory with Storytelling, but adds a large dose of self-consciousness. Obviously Solondz has heard his critics who complain that he is a manipulative writer interested in little more than cruelty and pain; he has characters in both of these stories voice these complaints to the two characters who are attempting to work out their personal lives in their art. While the "fiction" half of the film addresses its difficult issues with the shockingly cold deadpan humor and the bored "in-your-face" style that is familiarly Solondz, the much longer "non-fiction" portion is little more than the work of a director who, with nothing new to say, simply attempts to answer his critics. Giamatti is made to physically resemble Solondz, and his battles with his editor allow Solondz the chance to have a character voice towards his look-alike the complaints levied against Solondz and his earlier films. While apparently self-critical, Solondz turns the tables on his critics by showing an audience laughing appreciatively at the cruel film his character has created. Solondz is less interested in analyzing why he is drawn to this material than he is in blaming his audience for liking his (according to his critics) "mean-spirited" films. This disturbing attack might work if there was a narrative to go with it, but the story of the family that Giamatti is chronicling is barely more than a tired and redundant retread of Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse. Storytelling is the work of a man at a crossroads, which is an uncomfortable place to be for a director who has thus far blazed his own trail. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
When this CD came out, it was violinist Jean-Luc Ponty's strongest in several years. Most of the originals have dense ensembles full of rhythmic patterns set by the keyboards for Ponty to play over. With the exception of "Chopin Prelude No. 20" (a violin improvisation in which the violinist is backed by just Clara Ponty's sober chordal piano), this date falls into the funky fusion area. The enthusiastic high energy playing, colorful solos (Ponty is in splendid form) and catchy melodies make this a very worthwhile session; Grover Washington (on soprano) and keyboardist Patrice Rushen make guest appearances. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
The film consists of two stories that are unrelated and have different actors, titled "Fiction" and "Non-Fiction". "Fiction", starring Selma Blair, is about a group of college students in a creative writing class taught by a professor who has affairs with his students. "Non-Fiction", starring Paul Giamatti and John Goodman, is about the filming of a high school student and his family through the college application process.
Third story
The original version of the film featured a third story, concerning, among other things, a closeted football player played by actor James van der Beek.[1] After being shown in several film festivals, for unknown reasons the entire story was cut from the final version.[2]
Red box controversy
During the sex scene in the "Fiction" part of the film, a red box was added for the American version of the film, blocking the audience's view of a rough sex scene between Selma Blair and Robert Wisdom. This was used to bend the rules of the MPAA's rating system, allowing the film to obtain the R rating instead of NC-17. Initially the red box was to have had the word "Censored" on it, but the MPAA also deemed this unacceptable because they do not consider themselves censors.[citation needed] Solondz described the addition of the box as a political statement: "I was prepared to make that political statement. This is something I've always been prepared to do, as long as the audience is aware of what it's not allowed to see. That's how I feel "politically" about that. (...)" [3] The box is not present in the international version of the film, although in the American DVD release, both options are available.
