Comedy, despair, isolation

Film is a medium uniquely suited to depictions of alienation. This may seem ironic, given its collaborative nature, but the impact that can be created when a camera focuses on a single isolated individual and begins to tell his or her story, is for me singular and powerful. Some examples from the last 30 years are Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy and Atlantic City, and, more recently, Buffalo 66, Safe and the films of Todd Solondz ( Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness).