Ever since his 1995 breakout Welcome to the Dollhouse, writer/director Todd Solondz, 52, has continued to plumb the depths of soul-sick suburban alienation with equal parts open-hearted compassion and satirical ruthlessness. While he is prone to subjecting his characters to the most profoundly unsettling social and psychological horrors imaginable (this arguably reached its nadir with his notorious 1998 epic Happiness and its wrenching pedophile protagonist), it is always clear that he loves and embraces them in all their sad, desperate flailing for love and validation. And while Solondz’s protagonists have always been underdogs, his latest film both deconstructs and transcends that familiar archetype. It is titled, appropriately, Dark Horse.
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