Each film created is beautiful and memorable, but what’s more interesting is watching the interaction between the two great directors.  /Film has confirmed today that von Trier and Martin Scorsese will be conducting the same experiment in a remake of sorts of The Five Obstructions.  Von Trier will again be setting the parameters with Scorsese doing the directing.  No more information has really been released besides the fact each party has confirmed its participation.  Now the discussion has turned to the concern these two might try and tackle Taxi Driver as their source material.  I’d prefer them to leave that classic alone as well.  But what if Scorsese built on an already incredible piece?  That could be interesting.  Of all of Scorsese’s films, which would you prefer he remakes five times according to the bizarre rules set up by the director of Antichrist?

This insanely awesome video came to my attention today. It’s the VFX reel for Lars von Trier’s upcoming Melancholia. I can not wait. Trier’s wild embracing of digital effects stings my dogme 95 sensibilities. But I’ll get over it.

Update: The owner of the video made it private and I can’t find another copy anywhere. Enjoy these stills instead.

Melancholia (making of)

Radiohead’s new record, The King Of Limbs, is presented here as the world’s first* Newspaper Album, comprising:

• Two clear 10″ vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
• A compact disc.
• Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
• The Newspaper Album comes with a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players.
• The Newspaper Album will be shipped on Monday 9th May 2011 you can, however, enjoy the download on Saturday 19th February 2011.
• Shipping is included in the prices shown.
• One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12″ vinyl.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be the one to win that signed copy. There’s only a couple Radiohead fans out there, right? Pre-order it here.

Then Saint Valentine was all like, more Radiohead love! Pitchfork announced later in the day that Johnny Greenwood will be scoring the Tilda Swinton-starring The Truth About Kevin. Kevin was all ready a much anticipated film for me. And with Greenwood on board (remember that awesome score to There Will Be Blood?), this is shaping up to a big deal. At least for me.

And to wrap it up, /Film announced that Lars von Trier’s upcoming sci-fi drama Melancholia (another of my most anticipated, upcoming releases) has been picked up by Magnolia for US distribution, nearly guaranteeing that at some point, I will be seeing this in a theatre sometime in the near or distance future. And let’s be honest, von Trier’s films are much, much more digestible on the big screen. Some guy named Todd from a website named Twitch even got to see a promo for the film in Berlin this last weekend and had the following to say about it:

In short, it is gorgeous – instantly recognizable as Von Trier’s work and very likely the most commercial iteration of his talent that we have seen yet. This in no way implies that he has dumbed things down, just that the wild transgressions of Antichrist are not present here – where they would be entirely inappropriate – and that the imagery is so beautiful that this is a film that you could clearly cut one hell of a trailer for…Though firmly grounded in reality there are a lot of special effects in this and they are integrated seamlessly, shots of static electricity arcing off skin and dead birds falling from the sky in super slow motion being particularly effective.

Sounds like a win win win to me.

And to top it off, I visited Tilda Swinton’s IMDb page and saw this photo:

Best. Valentine’s. Day. Ever.

Each film centers around a heroine with a heart of gold.  In von Trier’s own words, they’re about “good women overwhelmed by a bad world”.  There is an emotional brutality in these works that has become familiar in his other films.  The audience, by and large, are meant to feel the brunt of this brutality, they are the end user.  But in a less literal sense, the female protagonists become his whipping boys.  Or girls, as it were.

In Breaking the Waves, an outstanding Emily Watson plays Bess McNeil.  Bess is so simple, and kind, and good, the cloistered, deeply religious village she lives in, in northern Scotland, believes she’s mentally ill.  Her marriage to an outsider is frowned upon, but allowed, and she experiences real joy in the union.Her husband works on a deep sea oil platform and in an accident at work, her husband is paralyzed.  After that he insists that she take on lovers, and return to him to explain, in detail, about her sexual adventures.  He promises her that if she doesn’t, he will die.  This takes Bess into some really dark and violent places that she isn’t prepared to understand, and isn’t able to cope with.

The Idiots is the second ever entry under the Dogme 95 Collective.  While von Trier’s films frequently exhibit elements of the Dogme 95 Manifesto (read about it here), this is his first that followed all the rules he and fellow Danish director Thomas Vinterberg outlined.  In Idiots, a group of malcontents, angry at the middle class for their bourgeois indulgences, go into public places and “spass”, or act developmentally disabled.  The practice is defended by the unofficial leader of the group in the name of self discovery, or finding your inner idiot.  Karen, in a awe inspiring performance by Bodil Jørgensen, is our heroine. How she ends up with the group isn’t explained until the final scene. And while she initially resists the groups practices, she’s happy to find people that accept her. Of course, in the end, she’s destroyed.

The final chapter is Dancer in the Dark. Björk stars as an immigrant woman earning to provide for herself and her son.  She’s framed by her landlord for a crime she didn’t commit, and for a number of reasons, she unwilling to come to her own defense, and is ultimately sentenced to death by hanging.  Dancer marks a slight change in tone from the other two films.  While there were moments of pitch black comedy in Breaking the Waves, it, and Idiots, maintains a solemn rigidity in it’s tragic tone.  Where as in Dancer, the film gives way several times to peppy, choreographed musical numbers, allowing Björk’s character a bit of joy here and there.

All of the films were critically acclaimed.  For the most part at least.  Dancer in the Dark won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.  Bjork won the same award for her acting, and the song ‘I’ve seen it all’ (a duet with Thom Yorke) that was written for the film, won an Academy Award.  Breaking the Waves was nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA, and won the César Award for best foreign film in France.  All three movies met with a bit of controversy as well.  Not the least of which includes showing unsimulated penetration in The Idiots. I read that Lars von Trier was the first director to show this in film outside of hardcore pornography.  Although, I think this could be debated as Leos Carax was doing the same thing in France about the same time in Pola X.  During the premiere screening of The Idiots at Cannes, film critic Mark Kermode (critic for The Observer) was so outraged by the fictional portrayal of disabilities, he was ejected from the theatre for shouting”C’est de la merde! C’est de la merde!”

Lars placed nearly all his faith in his three leading ladies.  The scripts, all penned by him, depend so much on the central performances, that the films would all be laughable were the roles not so brilliantly executed.  Björk’s character is my personal favorite.  Her story, and performance have always stood out to me as one of the most poignant films I’ve seen in the last decade.  Bodil Jørgensen’s performance stands out as the best of the three.  She completely morphed into her character.  So much so, I didn’t recognize her when I saw her in a totally different role in Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig).  But Emily Watson’s character is certainly the most interesting.  Throughout the film, Bess prays to God in her own humble and earnest voice.  But she also carries out God’s side of the conversation in a deep, and stern tone, frequently chastising her for her sins, telling her she’s undeserving of his attention.  But this device provides quite a bit of insight into Bess’s mind.  I’m not sure if von Trier was making a statement about the existence, or lack thereof, of God (especially considering the twisted outcome of the film), but it’s a brilliant move that makes Bess stand out.

These three films contrast quite well with Lars’ most recent film, Antichrist, where the tables are turned a bit. No, the male protagonist, played by Willem Dafoe, isn’t a saint too good for this world. But he does suffer a remarkable amount of physical (and, arguably, emotional) pain at the hands of a woman, his wife. In fact, symbolism associated the feminine is so closely linked with violence, it shouldn’t be beyond even the most casual movie-goer’s grasp.  At one point, Willem Dafoe climbs into a hole in the ground, seeking safety from his homicidal wife, only to be savagely brought out of it by her hand.  This hole in the ground is so clearly contrasted with a phallic tree stump, it can clearly by ascertained what is being alluded to.

I couldn’t stand Antichrist. I thought it was self-indulgent, pretentious and sexist.  But after watching the trilogy, I wonder why I was so offended, besides the fact he dedicated the film to Andrei Tarkovsky (a big “fuck you” to whoever was actually paying attention).  Basically, Willem Dafoe is slowly destroyed physically and emotionally by a woman, where the same is true in the trilogy, the men and women just switch places.  I’ve had to closely consider whether or not I was the sexist one, and a bit of chauvinism made the three films okay, and the one inappropriate.  Ultimately, I’ve decided this is not the case.  I take issue with Antichrist for many, many other reasons (I’ve listed them all here).  But I like that because of these films, I had to examine myself, to think much harder than I would have, had I chosen other films to watch.  And that’s what I love (and hate sometimes) about Lars von Trier.

What do you think about the Golden Heart Trilogy films?  What do you think about Lars von Trier in general?

The subject matter of the Austrian director’s films are never easily swallowed, and he stays true to his form with the nex film titled These Two (Ces deux).  Huppert reports that the movie will be about “the humiliation of old age.”  Humiliation is a familiar subject for Haneke.  In Funny Games a family is forced to play degrading games in hopes of sparing their lives.  In The Piano Teacher Ms. Huppert plays a masochistic spinster who fantasizes of being beaten and forced upon in front of her mother. So I’m assuming that he really means it when the film is to be about the humiliation of growing older. Still, despite my apprehension, Haneke’s films are far more interesting than the majority of any other director working today. I can’t wait for These Two.

Lars von Trier, however, would most certainly be counted in the minority of directors that can rival Haneke when it comes to interesting projects.  Although I hated Antichrist, I still can’t help but get really excited about anything he does.  It stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kirsten Dunst as sisters, and the opening scene shows us the end of the world.  Literally.  A planet collides with our planet ending everything.  And von Trier tells us why in an interview with Dutch news outlet Politiken:

In ‘Melancholia’ I start with the end. Because what is interesting is not what happens but how it happens! So we begin by seeing the world being crushed, then we can tell the story afterwards… In this way you don’t have to sit and form theories about what will happen, but can delve down into some other levels and become interested in the pictures and the universe – that’s what I imagine.

It’s all getting me really, really excited.  The film examines the two sisters and their personalities, quirks, and flaws, and then parleys that into how it affects their acceptance of the end of the world.  The interview goes on to say:

The two sisters react completely differently when the end of the earth approaches. The melancholy sister is calm as a rock because, in her darkened mind, she has always felt that things go as expected – to hell!

“And there are beautiful pictures as she is just standing there looking at the planet that comes closer and closer and accepts it. The other woman, on the other hand, becomes increasingly panicky,” von Trier says.

I’m trying to remember how excited I was about Antichrist, and how disappointed I was.  And to let that be a reminder that I may be setting myself up for disappointment.  But it’s not working.  Alexander Skarsgård, Stellan Skarsgård, Kiefer Sutherland, and Charlotte Rampling also star.

Melancholia is slated to be released sometime in 2011, and there’s no word on These Two.  But I’ll be waiting anxiously

I was a little surprised to hear it was playing at this theatre, and became a little concerned, since, clearly, possible embarrassment forced Antichrist to be relegated to the lesser venue.

My worries were well placed.  The second Antichrist started, I was on edge.  I knew I was in for a ride.  My friends all think that I’m not affected by on screen violence.  But I am.  Quite so.   The film begins with a black and white, slow motion montage of the two leads He (Willem Dafoe), and She (Charlotte Gainsbourg), having sex.  There’s an extreme hardcore shot thrown in there just for fun.  While the two are busy climaxing, their toddler son climbs out of bed, to the window sill, and out it.  He dies on impact.

The grief felt, particularly by She, is overwhelming for the couple, and She is hospitalized and medicated.  He is some sort of therapist himself, and insist She be released into his care, believing she is over medicated and needs to work through the grief on her own terms.  Which, despite a plethora of ethical problems, happens.  He decides She must go to their cabin in the woods (named Eden), where she can overcome her anxiety and grief (that are inexplicable connected to nature and Eden since their son’s death).

It becomes quite clear that She has equated violence and death with sex.  Owing, no doubt, to the son dying during their coitus.  At this point, the film spirals down, down, down.  There’s all sorts of pagan symbols, horrific images, and brutality.  When I say horrific, I’m not exaggerating to say I saw the worst things I’ve ever seen on screen; sexual depravity in ways I didn’t even know exsisted, violent sexual acts, crimes against animals, horrific animal births, self-mutilation on parts of the body that belong in magazines held only behind counters.  Lars von Trier has been accused of misogyny for this script that he penned while bedridden with severe depression.  The case can be made.  The horrific acts occur at the hands of a woman, at a place called Eden (you don’t need to be a Bible scholar to get it).  While wrestling with her inner demons, She is greatly disturbed by two features at Eden: an enormous, branchless tree trunk sticking erect out of the ground, and a big fox hole.  I’m not great at symbolism, but I think I got it.  Willem Dafoe actually crawls up inside this hole seeking safety, but is savagely removed from it by She.  Oh boy.  If only Freud were still alive.

But more than being just misogynistic, there is no point to this film.  I’ve had days to thing  it over, and I’m convinced, Mr. von Trier just wanted to mind fuck with us.  Congratulations Lars.  You’ve wasted everyone’s time.

I’m willing to go to some very dark places for film’s sake, if I feel like there was a point.  Maybe I learned something.  Maybe I found out something about myself, or explored my own emotions more deeply.  But what can be extrapolated from watching an unconscious Willem Dafoe being masturbated until he ejaculates blood, or watching a fox eat its own entrails and then rasp, ‘Chaos reigns,’ is beyond me.

The worst part, is that von Trier is extremely talented.  If you want to just look at Antichrist as torture porn, it puts the best Eli Roth could ever come up with to shame.  This film is a perfect example of what can happen when a talented director uses his talents for evil, and not for good.  While effeciently put together, Antichrist isn’t entertaining, interesting, poignant, or worth seeing in any way.

1 out of 4 stars