#8 - TODD SOLONDZ

After such heart-wrenching pictures of suburban hell and general human dysfunction as 1995's Welcome to the Dollhouse and 1998's Happiness, Todd Solondz has firmly established himself as the miscreant's director. Dollhouse tells the bleak, perverse tale of outcast teenager Dawn "Wienerdog" Wiener (played expertly by Heather Matarazzo). When Dawn asks a fellow student at her junior high why he hates her so much, he unhesitatingly replies, "Because you're ugly." We come to learn that Dawn isn't so much the stereotypical loser who's naturally uncomfortable in her own skin, as she is the stereotypical loser who's made to feel uncomfortable in her own skin by the fact that other people project their own insecurities onto her.

However, Welcome to the Dollhouse was a mere prelude to Solondz's more mature--and certainly more uncomfortable--black comedy, Happiness. In the words of producer Christine Vachon, Happiness is a "nonjudgmental film about a pedophile." One of its central plotlines--about a father who has an unnatural attraction to his young son's friends--caused sizable unhappiness among various critics and cultural watchdogs. However, the film also won considerable acclaim, premiering at the 1998 Cannes Festival to a positive reception and going on to establish Solondz further as one of the most original and provocative directors of his era.

Solondz's eagerly anticipated next film, Palindromes, is scheduled for release later this year.