Dark Horse

Abe is a man not afraid to tell people what he feels about them, he acts as if he’s not able to control his emotions all the time. He’s in his thirties and lives at home with his parents and has a penchant for collecting toys and figures. He’s a fan of the Simpsons, Doctor Who and Thundercats among other things. We never know if he has collected the figure of the comic shop owner, I bet he has, I’m not sure that he’d see the irony though. As well as living with his parents he also works for his dad in his Real Estate office. Well, he’s employed there anyway. There he answers successive questioning about whether or not he’s finished a vital spread sheet. This is while he gives far more of his attention to the purchase of a $450 Liono figure.


Through an impressive amount of tactless desperation and blind perseverance he gets the telephone number of Miranda. He meets her at a wedding and she shows no interest in him whatsoever. He through not really noticing that she’s not interested arranges to meet her at her parent’s house and very quickly proposes marriage. Amidst all of this bravura and Abe’s satisfaction in his collection is a deep set feeling in inadequacy. He feels that he’s at the bottom of the heap, especially in comparison with his brother and his cousin. This manifests itself in him feeling undermined at work and at home.

Todd Solondz has given us a comedy of dark proportions that questions us on parental relationships, prospects of unmarried thirty somethings and whether people of that age should be collecting toys. He liberally uses fantasy scenes to explore these themes. There are so many of them that you may wonder what reality actually is. That is the want of fiction, I suppose. In the middle of all of this is a towering performance by Christopher Waken, he plays Abe’s father, and displays hi customary menace. This is though while being on the verge of retirement and who spends his time selling space in strip malls and watching questionably funny comedy shows. The menace is all in his eyes.