Life During Wartime

2009 Comedy Drama

Directed by Todd Solondz, this ensemble film tells the tale of a large dysfunctional family. Joy (Shirley Henderson) continues to have problems with her husband, Allen (Michael Kenneth Williams), and looks to her family for advice. A dead former boyfriend (Paul Reubens) continues to try to win her heart from the great beyond. Joy's sister, Trish (Allison Janney), meets a retiree whom she hopes will normalize her chaotic life. A third sister, screenwriter Helen (Ally Sheedy), is full of bitterness toward both her family and her career. Their mother, Mona (Renée Taylor), wants absolutely nothing to do with men. And, ex-con Bill (Ciarán Hinds), Trish's former husband, wants to reconcile with their son. Life During Wartime is a pseudo-sequel to Solondz's Happiness with different actors playing the same characters from that earlier film.

Director: Todd Solondz

Starring: Shirley Henderson, Michael Kenneth Williams, Rosalyn Ruff, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner

 30 Reviews  5 Awards

Reviews

  • Jagged and gentle, shocking and sweet, Life During Wartime finds the King of Cringe more concerned than usual about forgiveness: who deserves it, and who is capable of bestowing it. True to form, though, he's not telling.

    Jeannette Catsoulis - NPR

    26 April 2013

  • In a staring contest with his audience, Solondz never blinks. He picks and picks at the themes that consume him, and he doesn't care who stays and who leaves. Me, I'm rapt.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

  • The common problem of Solondz's characters is an inability to see the world in shades of grey, which is fitting in a film where color-garish, boring or just plain ugly-is so important, and the actors are working off palettes of such extreme emotions. A few of them-notably Ms. Rampling, Mr. Hinds and Ms. Sheedy-are as good here as they've ever been.

    John Anderson - The Wall Street Journal

    26 April 2013

  • A heady mix of deadpan humor that boldly uses such topics as pedophilia, race and terrorism to plead the need for forgiveness at a personal and national level.

    - The Hollywood Reporter

    26 April 2013

  • Charlotte Rampling goes for broke as a sexually rapacious older woman. So does Ally Sheedy as a rich woman. They're memorable, and yet equally satisfying is Ciaran Hinds' sadness and restraint as a paroled sex offender with deviancy in the blood.

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Michael Lerner

    Gotham Awards (2010)

     

  • Best Screenplay

    Independent Spirit Awards (2011)

     

  • Lia Award

    Jerusalem Film Festival (2010)

  • Allison Janney

    Mar del Plata Film Festival (2009)

  • Best Screenplay

    Venice Film Festival (2009)

Lists

No lists

©2013 Movie Monitor