Dogville
It's been a little over three hours since I've finished watching Lars Von Trier's Dogville and I don't think I'm ready to write about it, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.
First of all, I just want to say: I have no idea how the hell Elephant ever beat out Dogville for the top prize at the Cannes film festival. That's awful.
Anyway, Dogville was directed by Lars Von Trier who also directed Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark amongst others. He's also one of the guys who created the whole Dogme 95 thing. If you don't know what that is you can check out the website at http://www.dogme95.dk
He's Danish but the film is in English like many of his works and Dogville happens to star Nicole Kidman.
If you're familiar with the movie and curious as to how I found a copy of it, allow me to answer your questions. Scarecrow video in the U-District in Seattle is the greatest video store on earth. They had about ten copies of it on DVD there.
Okay, the film. First of all, it's shot on DV which is a format the director is fond of. Second, there are almost no sets. The entire thing was shot on one soundstage and all the buildings are represented by chalk outlines on the ground. There might be a square on the ground and it will say "house" in it or "store," etc. It's very odd but makes it interesting as well and Von Trier uses it to great dramatic effect as well instead of just relegating it to the status of gimmick.
The story is about a woman running away from the mob who takes refuge in a small town. Initially the townspeople are reluctant to take her in because it might be dangerous and they don't know whether to trust her or not. She eventually wins them over and gets to stay. Of course, things fall apart and go bad and bad things happen, that's all I'll say.
It's a pretty pessimistic film in some respects and one which a lot of people say bashes on Americans since the film is the first of three that the director is doing about the United States. On the other hand, it's unflinching in its exploration of all the characters and does us the favor of having no sympathy for any of them. The film is pretty dark and leaves you feeling pretty yucky at the end but it's not without its rewards. It keeps you thinking and leaves you with much on your mind afterwards, I would say what but it would spoil the movie.
I'm really interested to find out what other people think about the film when it eventually gets released here in the U.S. Von Trier is the type of guy who likes to try weird things and subvert traditional filmmaking. It's a little long at barely under three hours but it's worth the effort.
I also started watching Errol Morris' Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. His filmmaking style is brilliant. He's a documentarian and the way he organizes interviews, stock footage, B-roll, all together is just awesome. I'll write more about it when I finish the movie.
That's it for now, everybody enjoy your New Years!
*edit* I just changed the subject because I realized there was a spoiler in it. Oops.
*another edit* I just read that Park Chan Wook's (director of Sympathy for Mr. Vegeance) latest film Oldboy is going to be released on DVD in Korea this March!!! Also, Harry of Aintitcoolnews.com fame put it as his #2 film of the year behind Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.