Life During Wartime (2009)

• Year: 2009
• Released: 16 Apr 2010
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 3 wins & 9 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808526/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/life_during_wartime
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/life-during-wartime
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Comedy, Drama
• Runtime: 98 min
• Writer: Todd Solondz
• Director: Todd Solondz
• Cast: Shirley Henderson, Allison Janney, Ally Sheedy
• Keywords: sequel, dark comedy, florida, pedophile, bar mitvah,

	6.4/10
	69/100
	56% – Critics
	14% – Audience

Life During Wartime Storyline

Separated from her incarcerated husband Bill (Hinds), Trish (Janney) is about to marry again. Bill is a pedophile, so Trish couldn’t be more excited to have Harvey (Lerner), a “normal” father figure for her two sons. But when Bill is released from prison and the boys finally meet their future stepdad, the family is forced to decide whether to forgive or to forget. Trish’s virginal, angelic sister Joy (Henderson), is also haunted by ghosts of lovers past. On leave from her degenerate husband Allen (Williams) and her job at a New Jersey correctional facility, Joy unwittingly leaves behind a trail of shame and exposed secrets wherever she goes. In one of the film’s most stylized sequences, the image of Joy walking the dark streets of Miami in her nightgown maintains her innocence against a backdrop of self-affliction and desire.

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Life During Wartime Movie Reviews

Not his best

A sort of sequel to Happiness(with most of the characters returning, albeit all recast, aged and… well, not matured), this picks up years after, and we see how Trish deals with the events of it, and meet Joy again(and she’s taken a turn for the… stranger, now haunted by Andy, and otherwise not offering that much to this… don’t get me started on Helen, who in a single scene merely reiterates her schtick from the original). Some of the scenes feel like they don’t really need to be there, and sans credits, this is only 89 minutes long. With that said, this is still a nice piece by Solondz, and a decent “fix” for anyone else who enjoy his work. The philosophy this time deals with forgiveness, what is natural, why do some people do bad things(is it genetic), and comments on excessive fear(xeno- and homophobia) as being irrational. Humorous material focuses on the idea of “normal”, nothing in this is ever idyllic in spite of the appearance of such, perversity, terrorism, and life in suburbia is yet again seen as being terrible. It’s again black comedy, with snarky, harsh lines. The dialog is sharp and the acting is good. This comes off as very “real”, the camera lets it all hang out. Shots sometimes last a while, and tension and awkwardness(intentional) arises from this(this is content more than presentation). There is a lot of overt sexuality, a little disturbing content and strong language as well as brief nudity in this. I recommend this to fans of Todd and indies in general. 7/10

no joy

It’s a sorta sequel to director Todd Solondz’s 1998 film Happiness and the Jordan sisters. The characters are recast. Joy Jordan (Shirley Henderson) marries Allen Mellencamp (Michael K. Williams) who makes obscene calls and she is haunted by Andy (Paul Reubens). Bill Maplewood (Ciarán Hinds) is let out of prison serving for child molestation. His ex-wife Trish Jordan (Allison Janney) has to deal with her son Timmy finding out about Bill’s crime. Bill starts dating Jacqueline (Charlotte Rampling). Trish is set to marry ‘normal’ Harvey Wiener (Michael Lerner). Helen Jordan (Ally Sheedy) is a successful screenwriter in California.

Recasting everybody has the weird sense of an alternate universe. It makes this a weirdly unreal movie. I can’t say that the actors are inferior but they are different. I’m not a big fan of Happiness and this doesn’t change that. I can’t find any rooting interest in any of these characters. Some are downright kill worthy. The discussion between Trish and Timmy is so pathetic that it’s almost funny. At least, it was memorable.

More a miss than a hit

Todd Solandz’s films are generally hit-or-miss affairs, and the line between hitting or missing is generally quite fine. Always emotionally intense, and character-based, they can be taxing, even dull or pretentious, but hold the promise of being mind-blowingly profound.

Solandz’s magnum opus was Happiness, in 1998. An incredibly profound movie, it hit the spot. Palindromes, in 2004, missed the spot, seeming random and pretentious.

Life in Wartime has the potential to be like Happiness, but is always teetering on the edge of being nothing-dressed-up-as-something, like Palindromes. In the end it is an interesting journey, but it never clicks up that notch necessary to make it profound.

In the end you feel that the journey was a waste of time.