Fear, Anxiety & Depression

Fear, Anxiety & Depression is a 1989 American comedy film written and directed by Todd Solondz and starring Solondz, Stanley Tucci and Jill Wisoff.[3][4][5]

Fear, Anxiety & Depression
Directed byTodd Solondz
Produced bySteve Golin
Sigurjorn Sighvatsson
Nigel Sinclair
Stanley J. Wlodkowski[1]
Written byTodd Solondz
Starring
Music byJoe Romano[1]
CinematographyStefan Czapsky
Edited byPeter Austin
Emily Paine
Barry Rubinow
Distributed byThe Samuel Goldwyn Company
Release date
December 8, 1989
Running time
85 minutes[2][3]

Production

The film was Solondz's first for a major studio, after his work in film school had attracted interest and he had been offered three-picture contracts. He had wanted to title it The Young and the Hopeless and was deeply unhappy with the lack of creative control; he has called it "a painful demoralizing experience", and did not make another film for several years.[6][7][8]

Plot

Solondz plays Ira Ellis, a neurotic aspiring playwright in the East Village of Manhattan, whose latest work is titled Despair. The film consists of vignettes featuring equally pretentious and as yet unsuccessful members of the arts scene including Ira's friend, Jack, a painter; his chubby girlfriend Sharon, a mime; his subsequent girlfriend, a performance artist; and Jack's cast-off girlfriend with whom he has a fling, an actress. Meanwhile, an old classmate of Ira's, Donny (played by Stanley Tucci in one of his first roles), has achieved success without apparent effort and takes up with Sharon.[3][8]

Critical reception

A reviewer for The New York Times called Fear, Anxiety & Depression "an amiable, uninspired spoof of the notion that agony and art go together" that acknowledges its debts to other film makers (such as Woody Allen in Ira's character and mannerisms) but lacking a "distinctive voice or vision".[3] A retrospective review for IFC called it "wan and obvious" satire.[8]

References
  1. "Fear, Anxiety & Depression Production Credits". The New York Times.
  2. "Fear, Anxiety & Depression". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  3. James, Caryn (December 8, 1989). "Review/Film; Spoofing the Unity of Art and Agony". The New York Times.
  4. "Fear, Anxiety, and Depression (1989)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  5. "Fear, Anxiety & Depression". MSN Entertainment. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  6. "Bio". The Films of Todd Solondz. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  7. "Todd Solondz DARK HOUSE Interview". Collider. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  8. Willmore, Alison (July 26, 2010). "Your Early Work: 'Fear, Anxiety & Depression". Retrieved July 25, 2020.


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