Antichrist

Started by MacGuffin, September 26, 2006, 01:55:33 PM

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modage

i wonder if there is some significance to all the "fart" headlines?

Antichrist = Fartbomb
Source: Hollywood Elsewhere

I ran right up to the Orange wifi cafe after escaping from Lars von Trier's Antichrist, which had begun at 7:30 pm in the Salle Debussy. I sat down and wrote for a solid hour, so charged by what I'd just seen and what had just happened -- easily one of the biggest debacles in Cannes Film Festival history and the complete meltdown of a major film artist in a way that invites comparison to the sinking of the Titanic -- that I didn't pay attention to the fact that my plug adapter wasn't giving power.

The computer went down and I lost everything. Seven or eight really good paragraphs.

It's now 10:42 pm and the Orange cafe is about to close. It's over and finished and I'm sick of this day. It's been one thing after another today (heat, sweat, lost power cord) and I know when I'm beaten and drained. I'll sit down and write more again tomorrow. But my God, what a screening! What a reaction! Critics howling, hooting, shrieking.

There's no way Antichrist isn't a major career embarassment for costars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, and a possible career stopper for Von Trier.

It's an out-and-out disaster -- one of the most absurdly on-the-nose, heavy-handed and unintentionally comedic calamities I've ever seen in my life. On top of which it's dedicated to the late Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, whose rotted and decomposed body is now quite possibly clawing its way out of the grave to stalk the earth, find an axe and slay Von Trier in his bed.

Here's a portion of Von Trier's "director's confession" from the press book:

"Two years ago I suffered from depression. Everything, no matter what, seems unimportant, trivial. I couldn't work. Six months later, jsut as an exercise, I wrote a script. It was a kind of therapy, but also a search, a test to see if would ever make another film.

"The script was finished and filmed without much enthusiasm, made as it was using about half of my physical and intellectual capacity. Scenes were added for no reason. Images were composed free of logic or dramatic thinking. They often came from dreams I was having at the time, or dreams I'd had earlier in my life.

"In any case I offer no excuses for Antichrist. Other than my absolute belief in the film -- the most important film of my entire career!"

A man whom I've admired and respected for many years has lost his mind for the time being, or at last lost it while he was writing and shooting the film. I just can't fathom how the director of Breaking The Waves and Dancer in the Dark and Dogville could have made something so amateurishly awful. The decent and compassionate thing would be to forget Antichrist and to forgive Von Trier. To put it aside and move on on all fronts.

I know that if I had been in Dafoe or Gainsbourg's shoes I would have come to my senses and walked off the film. I would have said "go ahead, sue me -- I welcome a lawsuit!" and walked home proudly and at peace.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Stefen

haha, I want to see it even more now .
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

theyarelegion

"Why Did You Make This Film?"
source: Hollywood Elsewhere

Polite but mild applause greeted the Antichrist team -- director Lars Von Trier, stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg -- as they walked into the Salle de Presse at 12:35 pm, or about 75 minutes ago. But then someone yelled "boo!" Dafoe and Von Trier, as you can see, chuckled at this. And then once the photos had been taken and everyone was settled, Daly Mail columnist Baz Bamigboye asked the first question, which was fairly hostile.

video displaying above:

"Why did you make this movie?" he said, clearly outraged by the film. Von Trier, Dafoe and Gainsbourg all gave Bamnibgoye, who was standing on the right side of the room, quizzical "what's up with this guy?" looks. "I don't feel I have to explain myself," Von Trier said. "Yes, you do!," Bamigboye sternly replied. "Yes, you do. You've come here to Cannes, the festival; has chosen it, we've all seen it...and I think you have an obligation to explain why you made it." Von Trier again demurred, sidestepped, shook it off.

That was the only confrontational moment. All questions in all press conferences tend to be asked in an extra-polite, deferential, obliquely phrased vein, and this one was no exception. There was some humorous quips from Von Trier ("I am the world's best director"), some laughter from the crowd, and very little in the way of soul-baring. Dafoe said Von Trier was "a great director" and was quickly corrected by Von Trier saying "the greatest" (or words to that effect).

If you hadn't seen Antichrist you would have had the impression from the questions and answers that it was, all right, shocking or challenging and yes, clearly disliked in some quarters, but a film that could or should be regarded with perhaps a certain whimsy or even (with an accommodating pro-Lars attitude) a harmless cinematic diversion.



cinemanarchist

Finally, some pretentiously emotional torture-porn! No really, I'm excited.
My assholeness knows no bounds.

Pas

Quote from: Stefen on May 18, 2009, 08:17:05 AM
haha, I want to see it even more now .

yes this is getting me very excited for this film  :ponder:

modage

Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.


cinemanarchist

Noe has his work cut out for him to top "fartbomb." You can do it Gasper!!
My assholeness knows no bounds.

New Feeling

for some reason the Cannes website didn't put the press conference up.  Anyone know where I can watch it?

SiliasRuby

It'll become a B movie art film masterpiece and GT will somehow love it.....
The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

Pas



Stefen

03 got the HIV and died.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Pedro

I feel that I might end up liking this.  Even if it's the worst thing I've ever seen, I hope it doesn't stop Von Trier from making more, though it seems that he's pretty ambivalent about the negative attention.

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: SiliasRuby on May 18, 2009, 11:55:50 AM
and GT will somehow love it.....

You're just getting random now. I hate every film by Lars Von Trier I've ever seen and have him high on my list of crimial filmmakers.