Director: Lars Von Trier

[japmn]

I've seen 3 of his films now. That is officially enough for me to call it a Crap vote. Dancer in the Dark, Antichrist, and Melancholia all proved to be overly artsy-fartsy exercises in bullshit film making. Shitty, over dramatic soundtracks and the retarded Chapter 1, Chapter 2.. blah blah blah was total crap. They are basically a SAIC or Columbia Student film shot with huge budgets. He might as well have gotten up there and pee'd into some Spaghetti-O's. It's about as fulfilling.

Some people say "maybe I'm not getting it" I say "I get it, this is CRAP!"

[The Flying Ninja]

I've only seen two of his films. And I've never had such divergent reactions to two films by the same director. I absolutely hated Dancer In The Dark but I loved Melancholia.

[Marsupialized]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stjM2q3D8I4

Every time I see that, I cannot help but wish Kirsten Dunst had the balls to either get up and leave or tell him to shut the fuck up and call him an idiot like she obviously wants to. She'd have gained a world of respect from a lot of people, instead she reveals herself to be a fidgeting coward and gets the opposite.

[syntaxfree07]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stjM2q3D8I4

Every time I see that, I cannot help but wish Kirsten Dunst had the balls to either get up and leave or tell him to shut the fuck up and call him an idiot like she obviously wants to. She'd have gained a world of respect from a lot of people, instead she reveals herself to be a fidgeting coward and gets the opposite.

"That woman who did nothing to alleviate the awkward situation that her colleague got himself in. Her. It's her fault!"

[Marsupialized]

She is obviously angered by what he's saying, and makes a squeak noise and fidgets around, but never says anything to him. I am not saying anything about the 'awkward situation' he's in, fuck him, I am saying she is obviously offended personally, yet says nothing. Like a coward, which is why so many people get away with being complete assholes, nobody calls them on their bullshit because they cowards.

[cak]

1) It's a Q&A, not a debate.
2) Kirsten Dunst? Really?

[Marsupialized]

1) It's a Q&A, not a debate.

I see, that's why. Gotcha. There are rules to these things. She is only allowed to answer questions at the stupid meaningless publicity event.

Look at the woman, she is bothered by the monumentally idiotic shit the ding-a-ling with his nose up his own asshole is saying, right next to her, yet says nothing out loud.
This is not about this woman and this particular asshole, I am making a comment on people in general nowadays. I get the feeling a woman can be raped and murdered on a city bus and everyone would look away, not say a word. There's a cowardly streak a mile wide which has planted itself dead center in the middle of 'civilized' society in recent years and it bothers me, I encounter variations on it constantly. Someone doing something that bothers everyone, yet nobody says a word. This video makes me think of it and I shake my head.

[syntaxfree07]

1) It's a Q&A, not a debate.

I see, that's why. Gotcha. There are rules to these things. She is only allowed to answer questions at the stupid meaningless publicity event.

Look at the woman, she is bothered by the monumentally idiotic shit the ding-a-ling with his nose up his own asshole is saying, right next to her, yet says nothing out loud.
This is not about this woman and this particular asshole, I am making a comment on people in general nowadays. I get the feeling a woman can be raped and murdered on a city bus and everyone would look away, not say a word. There's a cowardly streak a mile wide which has planted itself dead center in the middle of 'civilized' society in recent years and it bothers me, I encounter variations on it constantly. Someone doing something that bothers everyone, yet nobody says a word. This video makes me think of it and I shake my head.

You're my hero.

[brisket]

I like his films, and also his TV series The Kingdom.

They're sometimes a bit clumsy and/or pretentious, but I find them really funny. Funny and very serious at the same time, which I like in any artform.

I get the feeling he has a very very dark view of humanity and just keeps his head above water by maintaining a sense of humour. Not in a piss-your-pants, weepy kind of Wes Anderson way either, but by making films about the absurdity of existence and not giving a toss whether audiences say his films are pretentious or actors say he's unkind or journalists say he's insensitive.

so NC from me.

[Marsupialized]

1) It's a Q&A, not a debate.

I see, that's why. Gotcha. There are rules to these things. She is only allowed to answer questions at the stupid meaningless publicity event.

Look at the woman, she is bothered by the monumentally idiotic shit the ding-a-ling with his nose up his own asshole is saying, right next to her, yet says nothing out loud.
This is not about this woman and this particular asshole, I am making a comment on people in general nowadays. I get the feeling a woman can be raped and murdered on a city bus and everyone would look away, not say a word. There's a cowardly streak a mile wide which has planted itself dead center in the middle of 'civilized' society in recent years and it bothers me, I encounter variations on it constantly. Someone doing something that bothers everyone, yet nobody says a word. This video makes me think of it and I shake my head.

You're my hero.

Ok, and?

[enframed]

I don't think he's racist or a Nazi, I think he completely lacks any sort of social skills and says a lot of stupid shit. This is not the first time he's said stupid shit.

One can be sympathetic with aspects of a person while simultaneously finding this person in many ways a horrible abomination of a human being and not endorsing his actions. Anyone who doesn't understand that probably shouldn't be judging a film competition.

I like how in subsequent interviews, after being banned from the Cannes festival, he said something like, "Well, the French weren't very nice to Jews during WWII, so this probably hits a little close to home for them."

Also, it appears as though Dunst leaned over and told him to "shut up" or something similar, he became defensive after she did this. Why was Dunst the only person who said anything at all? Why not Gainsbourg, Hurt, or Skarsgard?

[tallchris]

Also, it appears as though Dunst leaned over and told him to "shut up" or something similar, he became defensive after she did this. Why was Dunst the only person who said anything at all? Why not Gainsbourg, Hurt, or Skarsgard?

They'd all been in earlier Von Trier films, and were probably too used to him saying stupid shit at that point?

[jeff_fox]

wow, I had never seen that clip before. what an absolute moron. It kind of looks like kd is telling him to shut up. a louder reaction would have been pretty satisfying though.

oh, his films? some of the worst shit ever.

[P.J. Craven]

I still know next to nothing about his work, but Nymph()maniac looks all kinds of screwed up.



I get the creeping feeling that these sneak peeks are far more interesting than the main course.

[brephophagist]

Dancer in the Dark is one of the most manipulative, belabored polemics I've witnessed. The parts where Björk essentially acts like herself are brief and welcome breaks. Fucking Catherine Deneuve couldn't rescue it.

Melancholia managed to make a planetary collision apocalypse seem onerous and boring. That is no small accomplishment.

The raw cut of Nymphomaniac is 5.5 hours? In my own personalized version of No Exit, I have to watch that 5.5 hour cut. Over and over.

Crap (obviously). Minor waffles for the Dogme 95 thing.

[tallchris]

Criterion is finally releasing Breaking the Waves in April.

Can't wait to see this on Blu-Ray, especially the chapter headings:

phpBB [media]

[atomjackfuser]

Dancer in the Dark is one of the most manipulative, belabored polemics I've witnessed. The parts where Björk essentially acts like herself are brief and welcome breaks. Fucking Catherine Deneuve couldn't rescue it.

I liked the musical interludes/fantasies. Everything else was fucking awful. I HATE that goddamn movie.

[Kate Rev]

I watched both parts of Nymphomaniac last night. Holy shit was that awesome.

The things I had heard about it before I saw it made me think it would be just a gross film devaluing women's sexuality and slut-shaming, but it was completely the opposite.

I thought the narrative gave validity to all kinds of sexualities and sex drive levels in women which are usually made invisible in our culture by the idea that slutty women are slutty in order to deal with their childhood abuse, or to get attention or things or money, or to feel filled up somehow.
That happened in this narrative, and she destroyed her life because of her unbridled sexuality, but sometimes slutty women like fucking a lot and it was the taboo that damaged her life, not the sexuality itself. This idea is not new and has been presented lots of times obviously, but: 'dude has fucked thousands of women = cool. Woman has fucked thousands of men = omg what the fuck is wrong with her and/or she needs mental help' was here presented in a great way. Not that it's all sunshine and daisies and happy consensual sex times, there's tons of complexity, but it's Lars von Trier, that's what he does.

Keen to hear what other people think, especially about the ending, but I don't want to spoil it here for anyone.

[Sowley]

I watched Part One last night, and I'm in agreement with you on this. I was shocked at how complex and delicate Von Trier played it. I was fully expecting it to be what you had described ("a gross film devaluing women's sexuality and slut-shaming.") Will probably get into part two tonight.

Man, the Uma Thurman scene. So rough.

[cuttheshitmike]

Watched all of Part I and II last night and it was really good. The ending fit, I thought. Kind of want to see the five and a half hour cut.