or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
More Buying Choices
65 used & new from $2.99

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

or

Get a $1.00 Amazon.com Gift Card
 
   
Storytelling
 
See larger image
 

Storytelling (2001)

Starring: Noah Fleiss, Paul Giamatti Rating: R (Restricted) Format: DVD
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)

List Price: $24.98
Price: $22.49 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.49 (10%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Wednesday, November 11? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
37 new from $2.99 28 used from $3.45
Amazon Video On Demand
Amazon Video On Demand Special Offer
Purchase any DVD or Blu-ray and receive $5 towards select TV shows at Amazon Video On Demand. Here's how (restrictions apply).

Frequently Bought Together

Storytelling + Happiness + Palindromes
Total List Price: $59.91
Price For All Three: $50.97

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Storytelling DVD ~ Noah Fleiss

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Happiness DVD ~ Jane Adams

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Palindromes DVD ~ Jennifer Jason Leigh

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Save at least 41% on Land of the Lost: For a limited time, pick up Will Ferrell's latest on DVD and Blu-ray. Shop now.

  • Save 40% on quirky comedies and dramas like Manhattan Murder Mystery, Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction, and more.


What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Storytelling
75% buy the item featured on this page:
Storytelling 3.4 out of 5 stars (80)
$22.49
Happiness
12% buy
Happiness 3.9 out of 5 stars (291)
$10.49
Welcome to the Dollhouse
5% buy
Welcome to the Dollhouse 4.4 out of 5 stars (165)
$18.99
Palindromes
5% buy
Palindromes 3.4 out of 5 stars (57)
$17.99

Product Details

  • Actors: Noah Fleiss, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Julie Hagerty, Lupe Ontiveros
  • Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
  • Language: English
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rating: R (Restricted)
  • Studio: New Line Home Video
  • DVD Release Date: July 16, 2002
  • Run Time: 87 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005JKJG
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,427 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
  • For more information about "Storytelling" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Todd Solondz, director of the acclaimed Welcome to the Dollhouse and the controversial Happiness, continues pushing the envelope of social decorum with the merciless and casually cruel Storytelling, his most ruthless satire of suburban complacency. Broken into two unrelated chapters, "Fiction" follows college girl Selma Blair through a degrading encounter with her resentful writing teacher (Robert Wisdom), while the more sprawling and scattershot "Non-Fiction" circles around the mutual exploitation of a fumbling documentary filmmaker (Paul Giamatti doing a near-parody of director Solondz) and his clueless subject, a suburban high school slacker named Scooby (Mark Webber). The squirmy laughs are laced with humiliation and the satire is acidic and cynical; in the world of Solondz, victims and victimizers alike are petty, selfish, vindictive, and thoughtless, and empathy is strictly rationed. Though sharply written and well directed, this misanthropic vision is strictly for daring filmgoers and Solondz fans. --Sean Axmaker


Product Description

From Todd Solondz, the critically acclaimed director of Welcome to the Dollhouse comes a film comprised of two separate stories set against the sadly comical terrain of college and high school, past and present. Following the paths of its young hopeful/troubled characters, it explores issues of sex, race, celebrity and exploitation.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Palindromes

Palindromes

DVD ~ Jennifer Jason Leigh
3.4 out of 5 stars (57)  $17.99
Welcome to the Dollhouse

Welcome to the Dollhouse

DVD ~ Heather Matarazzo
4.4 out of 5 stars (165)  $18.99
Body Shots

Body Shots

DVD ~ Joe Basile
Malicious

Malicious

DVD ~ Molly Ringwald
3.1 out of 5 stars (17)  $8.49
Ghost World

Ghost World

DVD ~ Steve Buscemi
4.1 out of 5 stars (339)  $10.49
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

80 Reviews
5 star:
 (22)
4 star:
 (23)
3 star:
 (12)
2 star:
 (8)
1 star:
 (15)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (80 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars "Mandingo" and "Reality TV", February 26, 2003
By Marty From SF (San Francisco, CA.) - See all my reviews
Although this third film by Todd Solondz is not as good as "Welcome To The Dollhouse" or "Happiness", it still smacks of satirical cynicism. Inexplicably split into two films ('Fiction', 'Non-fiction'), we are first presented with a twenty minute film about community college level 'writing', in which, a young woman has a confrontational and sexual sparring with the black, 'mandingo' teacher. It's all meant to be a comment on hypocritical racists in education. It culminates in an outrageous sex encounter that is literally 'blocked' by a large red rectangle (taboo emphasis). It's moderately entertaining.

The second part of the film is more complex. Without exposing too much of the plot, it involves (as "Happiness" did) classism, racism, sexism, oh hell, any 'ism' you could imagine. But it works. It is simply a story of an upper middle class American family with the 2.5 kids and the proper suburban parents with a perfect son, the 'imperfect' son and the 'baby'. Kudos to John Goodman and Julie Haggerdy for participating in this movie. They bring life and legitimacy to their roles. Solondz filmed this well before "reality TV" was popular, and that is the premise. While the imperfect son is being secretly filmed for a documentary, the family struggles through it's own unusually tragic existence (the youngest of the three sons is the 'Brady Bunch brat' we always thought we wanted to see as evil). Needless to say, Solondz produces many shocks and surprises along the way. The trip is wildly entertaining, but the finale may leave the viewer distraught. Not that the story is poorly conceived or arranged, but simply that the ending is horribly, terribly depressing. It still good enough to recommend. I consider that a rare accomplishment for any film-maker.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Solondz grinds in the bitterness, February 6, 2002
By LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
While Todd Solondz' previous film, Happiness, was an acidic--and mordantly funny--attack on suburban life, Storytelling goes one "better" (if one can say that) and pushes the director's penchant for vitriol to the max.

The two unequal components of the film, Fiction and Non-Fiction, are meant to be complementary, but do not function as such. The first, Fiction, is mercifully short, juxtaposing the intense contempt of a black prize-winning writer, relegated to the role of a fiction writing prof in a two-bit college, with his snide, spoiled, white, know-it-all students, almost all girls. He unequivocally blasts their work. In a powerful revelatory scene, the black man vents his tremendous frustration on one of the white girls whose attempt to forge a relationship with a boy in the class, stricken with cerebral palsy, fails because of his own fears of inadequacy. Her sexual frustration absolutely must have an outlet, and so she turns to the only other available male she knows.

The phrase "mercifully short" is used because the characterizations here are flat and one-dimensional. In retrospect, Solondz may have done this intentionally to illustrate his own tremendous disgust at the rage inherent in societal conventions that destroy what should be (or at least is meant by) civilized behavior: racism and 'sub-human' categorization of those with physical afflictions. The bitterness is so deep in this short piece, it leaves a really strong taste; you can feel this down in your gut. Not only is it not pleasant; it's not that entertaining. He makes his point by smashing, not hitting, the viewer over the head.

The second piece, Non-Fiction, is much more fully realized, and chronicles the simultaneous activity of a schleppy documentary film-maker (Paul Giamatti in one of his best roles, bar none) with a bizarre dysfunctional family, played convincingly by John Goodman and Julie Hagerty as the parents, Lupe Ontiveros as the beleagured domestic, and some talented newcomers in the roles of the sons. Here Solondz does a masterful job of combining hypnosis, a sports-related disastrous injury, and death by gas with a jaundiced view of what "entertainment" in America really means. A closet gay teenager who aspires to be the next Conan O'Brien is picked by the hapless filmmaker as his subject--clearly a choice driven by desperation--and an outrageous twist of fate ultimately leaves the filmmaker at loose ends and the teenager even more rootless than he is normally.

This piece is without question one of Solondz' best works and, at the same time, is a denunciation of typical American suburban life even more bitter (if that's possible) than that depicted in Happiness. It would have been truly great to see this expanded to feature length. Rumor has it that Solondz actually shot three segments for the film. The third was not used; perhaps it will turn up in a future work, or in the inevitable DVD release.

Overall this is a curious two-part film which is saved by its second story. No film maker in the United States working today has as much hatred for American mores as Solondz, but, as shown in Happiness and the Non-Fiction part of Storytelling, his intensely black humor/ferocious irony makes his work compelling.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A movie that never flinches, June 16, 2002
By "home_theatre_guru" (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
Todd Solondz's funny and controversial films examine sordid suburbia. They are witty, satirical stories but also unflinching in their use of controversial subjects like rape, pedophilia and other "uncomfortable" subjects that most mainstream films would never have the nerve to address, much less use in a comedic context. So, you either love his films or hate them (as the other reviews here will attest.) I happen to love his films.

It might be best to watch his previous film, "Happiness", before watching "Storytelling" as "Storytelling" seems (to me) to be the film maker's personal response to the criticisms that his other films have elicited. "Storytelling" is composed of two, separate stories titled "Fiction" and "Non Fiction". "Non Fiction" features a documentary film maker (clearly representing Solondz)who's a downtrodden geek, accused of exploiting his subjects.

His films make you laugh but also uncomfortable about laughing. I think he's an exciting voice in American cinema, far removed from the formulated drek that's cranked out by the studios. Highly recommended!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Ugh
I don't have a ton of fancy over-analytical bull for you. This movie sucked. Both seperate mini-movies were hard to watch, painful even. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mama2J&O

4.0 out of 5 stars EVERYONE GOT'S ONE TO TELL
by Dane Youssef


This is yet another "daring and provocative" little "taboo-breaking film" from writer/director Todd Solondz ("Welcome To The Dollhouse,"... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Dane R. Youssef

1.0 out of 5 stars This movie Stinks!
Don't even waste your time!! The movie made NO sense what-so-ever to me!! Its a dark comedy....do what???? I did not laugh NOT once!! Not even smile... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Kristy Harvey

4.0 out of 5 stars ...storytelling
Well. Not a film that I would recommend to anyone except serious film buffs who can stomach some pretty rough material. I barely made it through one scene... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Adam

1.0 out of 5 stars Trite stories told badly
The purpose of this review is to save someone 87 minutes of life. Spend that time elsewhere than with this film. Read more
Published 19 months ago by The Concise Critic:

4.0 out of 5 stars Everyone always has a story to tell.
Todd Solondz's `Welcome to the Dollhouse' showed comic/absurd promise; his masturbation scene in `Happiness' overstepped the boundary of film taste but got everyone's attention... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Jenny J.J.I.

5.0 out of 5 stars Different and disturbing
Storytelling is another highly enjoyable, if typically disturbing work from the New York director Todd Solondz. Read more
Published on August 30, 2007 by Bruno

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece. A Really Terrific Movie.
Todd Solondz is a talented filmmaker and I can say that after seeing only one of his films. I saw "Happiness" a few months ago and appreciated it for how smart it was. Read more
Published on February 17, 2007 by Joshua Miller

2.0 out of 5 stars Apathy For The Sake Of Apathy
***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

It's probably fun to make a movie about yourself -- or one that focuses closely on you -- and that is what director Solondz has done with... Read more
Published on October 24, 2006 by B. Merritt

1.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER GLORIFICATION OF UNGRATEFUL LOSERS
Why does Hollywood concentrate on people who use their freedom and advantages (more than any country has enjoyed in history)to feel sorry for themselves and destructive behavior... Read more
Published on July 15, 2006 by John W. Schlatter

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Explore more




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.