DARK HORSE (Todd Solondz). 84 minutes. Opens Friday (June 29) at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. See Times. Rating: NNN
Todd Solondz is a master of a particular tone. Like all his films (Welcome To the Dollhouse, Happiness), Dark Horse walks the line between humour and despair, keeping the audience off-balance with unlikeable characters doing all the wrong things.
Jordan Gelber plays Abe, an immature loser who still lives with his parents, works for his father – if you call throwing paper airplanes around the office work – and is obsessed with action figures. When sullen beauty Miranda (Selma Blair) says yes to his advances, man-boy Abe thinks he’s getting lucky. Of course, there’s a catch.
Brilliantly cast as Abe’s parents, Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken step into Solondz’s wonky universe with just the right energy, Walken deadpan and weird, Farrow terrifyingly perky.
And Solondz uses a relentlessly cheerful indie pop soundtrack to great ironic effect.
Too bad he’s moved away from his ensemble approach involving multiple disturbed characters. There’s only a single narrative thread here and, as a result, Dark Horse feels a bit thin.