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Director: Lars von Trier Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Willem Dafoe First thing's first: Yes, I made one thread for both volumes... if people disagree on the appropriateness of this enough I guess a mod can intervene and delete the thread or start an additional one. My justification for this is simply that I feel like they are one story arc, it makes the most sense to watch them both one after another, and in my opinion the only reason they are separated is due to the infeasibility of releasing a 4-5 hour film. All in all I would simply argue that this is a film in two parts rather than two separate films, and I feel that any discussion of this work is going to involve both movies rather than one. Reviewing these as two separate films just doesn't make sense to me. On to the review. I have a feeling I'm going to be in the minority on this one. I did not find it to be pretentious - even Seligman's interjections comparing aspects of Joe's story to fly fishing, classical music, or the Bible. In my opinion this is a part of his character: an old, bookish man who hasn't had much to do with his life but immerse himself in such information. We all make connections to knowledge from our personal lives when hearing a story, and I don't think it's so simplistic a device as "the voice of Lars von Trier explaining his movie to you". As for the nudity - yes, there is a lot of it and it's pornographic in its explicitness. But I found it interesting the effect this had on me - by the end of the movie when I saw another cock and balls, I was not titillated or annoyed anymore than I would be to see another pair of lips or eyes. The repetition of this imagery sort of reduces its power by desensitizing us to it, which I think is intentional. It's also worth noting that because of the context of the film its bit hard to find any of the nudity especially... sexy. I guess all in all it is hard to explain my reaction to this film as it was more emotional than analytical (rare for me). I suppose I'll leave the analysis to other reviewers, but I will say I quite liked it. 4/5
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Mar 30, 2014 19:44
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 19:51 |
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