Recent Release Reviewed: Life During Wartime

Starring: Shirley Henderson, Allison Janney, Ciarán Hinds, Paul Reubens, Michael Lerner, Ally Sheedy, Michael Kenneth Williams, Chris Marquette

Written and directed by: Todd Solondz

Several years after the events of Happiness, the characters of that film are still struggling along. Joy (Henderson) is questioning her marriage to Allen (Williams), a perverted criminal who is trying to reform. She travels to Florida to visit her sister Trish (Janney) who thinks she may have finally found a normal man in Harvey (Lerner), and may be able to forget her paedophile ex Bill (Hinds). However, Bill has just been released from prison and heads to Florida to ask oldest son Billy (Marquette) for forgiveness. But while Billy knows the truth, his little brother Timmy is preparing for his bat mitzvah, and has realised that his mother was lying when she told him that his father was dead.

Back in 1998, Happiness was one of the most controversial films around. It looked frankly and with some sympathy at what were mostly unlikeable characters. It was tough to watch but impossible to forget. It's strange that, over ten years later, Solondz has decided to revisit them. He's always seemed like a director with no interest in commercial success, so it's safe to assume that this sequel wasn't made for financial reasons. Indeed, with a completely new cast, Life During Wartime doesn't feel like a follow-up.

The big strength here is the film's cast. Solondz has found a group of actors worthy of their predecessors. Shirley Henderson steps in Jane Adams, Allison Janney for Cynthia Stevenson, Ciarán Hinds for Dylan Baker, Ally Sheedy for Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael Kenneth Williams for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Paul Ruebens for Jon Lovitz. Henderson is excellent, playing a woman starting to wonder if her perpetual optimism has been for nothing, as is Janney, whose Trish is determined to believe that things are finally getting better. The standout, however, is Hinds, bringing a crushing gravitas to Bill, who knows that he can't hope for forgiveness.

For the most part, Life During Wartime doesn't really say anything new. It's neither as shocking as Happiness (nothing here matches Dylan Baker's confessional scene with his son), nor as funny. The jokes about saying inappropriate things in front of family members and medicating children seem a little like Solondz going back over old ground. There are moments, however, when it works. Joy's hau nted by the ghost of Andy (Reuebens), who is desperate to sleep with her, then screams abuse when she turns him down. Reubens' is creepily effective, playing off Henderson's determination to be kind very well. A scene between Bill and Jacqueline (Rampling), a bitter woman who picks him in a bar, resonates, too, with both characters certain of the pointlessness of hoping for forgiveness. "Only losers expect to get it," she spits. Hinds' scene with Marquette is also superbly played, but to discuss that too much would be to spoil one of the best moments of the film.

It's certainly an interesting experiment to see this characters with different faces so many years later. Life During Wartime is occasionally very sharp indeed, and the performances are excellent. However, it doesn't really seem like the ideas abou t forgiveness have enough meat to drive a whole film, and frankly there's not that much new ground being covered here.

6/10