Reto and I watched a DVD of Dogville last night. Well, I watched it and he fell asleep. I really enjoyed it (although perhaps it was a bit slow-moving. 3 hours really is too long), and I thought the whole thing with it all being done on a stage with no walls or anything was great for creating an atmosphere of oppressive proximity and interdependence between the characters and so on.
Sadly, though, when I say that I watched the movie, what I really mean is that I watched the first two hours, then moved slightly to make myself more comfortable and dropped the DVD player thing (I was watching it on my laptop, lying in bed, and none of our cords and things are long enough so the DVD drive thing, which I guess would be actually in the computer if it wasn't a laptop, was perched precariously on a pile of junk. Until I yoincked the laptop across a bit and knocked the DVD thing over, anyway. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I do have a DVD thing in my laptop, but it's set to Australia and so wouldn't have played this DVD, which is from here) and then about 5 minutes later the DVD froze. Further inspection showed that the DVD had some enormous scratches in it. Which apparently I am being blamed for.
The up-side is that I don't know that I could have stayed awake for another hour of the movie. It really is kind of grim and awful, and according to ruinedendings.com, it didn't really get a whole lot more cheerful. The other up-side was that I then saw most of this adorable French animated movie (with very little dialogue, happily) about a cyclist who was kidnapped and his grandmother who went to save him, and these three old ladies who made wacky music using vacuum cleaners and fridge shelves, and who favoured the dynamite-assisted version of fishing. Which was lovely, and quite the antidote to all the rape and oppression.
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Lars von Trier is an oddball. But if you enjoy his works, you should look for
Breaking the Waves
Dancer in the Dark (with Bjork)
Idioterne (the idiots)
and finally I can STRONGLY recommend the mini-series "Riget" (the Kingdom) - but please watch the original danish series first, before the american remake.
I fast-forwarded through the last hour of Dogville. I wanted to see how it ended, but I didn't want to waste another hour of my life on it.
i thought dogville was a cracker, and i hate nicole kidman. the best part is the final credits. every time i hear david bowie's "young americans" now i think of it. but it would only make sense (or not) if you'd just sat through the whole movie.
and i would have thought you'd have seen all the lars movies nick mentions, being the scandi cinephile that you are. not true?
I was looking out for Reasons To Hate Our Nicole in Dogville actually, and found her surprisingly non-hateable (which was weird, because as you say, mischa, she is kinda vile). But don't you think it's a bit of a "damning with faint praise" scenario if you say "the best part is the final credits"?
And yes, I have seen all those movies Nick mentioned. I have been meaning to watch Breaking The Waves again, though. And I mean to watch Festen, which I think isn't Lars, but some other Dane. Hmm.
Festen is by Thomas Vinterberg, but part of the Dogma film thingy. And if you're planning on going all out with the dogma movies, you also have to see Mifunes sidste sang (Last song of Mifune), by Søren Kragh-Jacobsen. That, Festen and Idioterne was the front runners of the dogma concept (if I remember it right)
- and I forgot Europa and Manderlay which are also by von Trier.
i didn't mean to damn with faint praise. i just loved how incongruous the credits were.
i don't know how you could put yourself through watching breaking the waves again. that's crazy talk. great film and all, but almost made me want to slash my wrists.
festen is my fave of the bunch.
the weirdest dogma film i've seen was called "f**klands" (the asterisks were actually in the title as far as i could tell). i think it strayed from the original concept a bit - i believe there may have been some non-incidental music, for example - but basically it's the story of an argentinian bloke who goes to the falklands with the intention of seriously fucking with any english folk still there. very strange film.
i think italian for beginners was dogma, wasn't it? it gets my vote for funniest and least depressing dogma film.
Yeah, being bleak and miserable is really their hallmark, isn't it? Was Brothers kind of half-hearted Dogma? Incidentally, the next movie by the same people (After The Wedding) was on at the Fest this year and it was great. Although not as good as Brothers in my opinion, and it didn't have that guy in it (you know the one).
After the wedding just won another price.
In order to be proper dogma, they have to conform to the dogma manifesto, which states (among other things) that actors are to do their own makeup, music must be live on the set, and a load of other restrictions (especially about editing and post processing). If it is a real dogma movie, the manifesto will be part of either the opening or end credits.
which one is 'that guy' in brothers? the blond one or the dark, bearded one? having never met or seen reto, i don't know whether you'd incline towards the former or the latter...
did adam's apples win the audience vote at the SFF last year? because i thought it was pretty crap, and i reckon the fact that it won just goes to show that even crap scandi movies are better (or provide a more fulfilling cinema experience for audiences) than most other stuff out there. hmm, controversial.
Didn't Little Miss Sunshine win the audience vote last year?
I meant the beardy one who wasn't kidnapped. I don't think Reto looks like either of them, at all really. Actually, I always used to think that he kind of looked like a cross between that dude from That 70s Show (the nerdy one. He was also in that movie at the Fest maybe 2 years ago with Laura Linney, where he was a college student and she was a teacher and he had the same name as this man she had once loved) and that dude in Scrubs (the nerdy one). Now I'm not so sure.
A lot of danish movies are flooded with danish humour, danish terms/slang and danish odd behavior. And when put into the right context, it is actually pretty amusing. Especially if you ARE danish, because you'll be able to spot the charicatures better.
- but some are definetely better than others.
I do however think that the danish movie scene has been pretty saturated with light comedies, movies about druggies and dealers, and other stereotypical stuff. We need something new.
If you can dig it up, have a look at "Portland" which I believe marked the beginning of a new era of danish films. It is rather gursome though, but a lot of now prominent danish actors made a strong appearance in that film - like Ulrich Thomsen, Anders W. Bertelsen and Iben Hjejle.
Also movies like "Et rigtigt menneske", "Bænken" and "Reconstruction" are really good.
You might also wan't to check out movies by Eric Clausen. They're very amusing and down-to-earth in a very danish 1970's working class way.
Lordy, I don't think I've heard of any of those movies (which is appalling for Australia's/Switzerland's premier expert on the cinema of Denmark!). Good thing I'm unemployed and can spare the time to hunt them all down (not that I would have much chance of finding them in Aarau).
You might wan't to check if the some of the danish online DVD stores will ship to the alps.
dvdoo.dk, axelmusic.dk, cdon.com
They're all just about the cheapest online stores in DK as well.
- and if you wan't more recommendations, just let me know ;)
Maybe I should start becoming Australia's/Switzerland's premier expert on the cinema of Denmark again! How exciting!
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