Solondz is no stranger to experimental form; his film Palindromes cast multiple actresses to play the same protagonist. In Wiener-Dog, the form is associative, following a dachshund pup from owner to owner as a vehicle for spying on the humans’ lives. First up is a cold yuppie family,
Delpy as Dina is deadpan hilarious when telling her kid at bedtime the story of a
Greta Gerwig gets the chance to play grown-up Dawn Wiener, the desperate loner from Solondz’s 1995 breakthrough Welcome to the Dollhouse, as she reunites with bully/crush Brandon (Kieran Culkin) for an Ohio road trip. Brandon has to tell his brother (Connor Long) and sister-in-law (Bridget Brown) — who have Down syndrome — that their father is dead, and that conversation plays out like a Who’s on First routine, with Brandon saying their dad died because he started drinking and his brother saying, “But he told me he quit drinking” over and over in a circle. It’s still a touching scene, showcasing the absurdity of “important” moments, where if you look at them from the outside, it’s just a bunch of helpless people trying to exert control over the uncontrollable. But Solondz shows great love toward his characters, no matter how fucked up they may be.
He also adds a rare autobiographical touch with Danny DeVito playing a film-school prof in New York; Solondz is open about the dismal realities of being a name director who has to teach to pay the bills. The social-activist students in their “I can’t breathe” shirts congratulate themselves on being progressive while casting the only one of their teachers who still cares about narrative as a washed-up relic. It hurts, but it’s also what is consistently perfect about Solondz’s films: his ability to poke holes in liberal and PC culture and have it come from the right place, and wrapping it all up in the disarming charm of a little wiener dog.