Dogville

[Finn]

and he couldn't even accept it because he was off with young girls

[Pubrick]

i don't get it

[ono]

SPOILERS

Finally saw this a couple days ago.  Horrible film.  I have this theory about people who like certain films.  It started with Closer (well, Fight Club actually), and now it is branching out to include Dogville.  The theory is not fleshed out yet, but the gist of it is you can tell a lot about polarizing films, and the people who like them.

Dogville started brilliantly.  The opening shot was great, as was the detached pull-back from the first rape.  But from the Dr. Seuss narration to the faulty logic, everything about this was a misstep.  Well, almost everything.

The final conversation between Grace and her father was such a perfect scene, it belonged in another movie along with the settings and characters.  This script was a blueprint for a much better movie somewhere, a movie which Von Trier will never be capable of making because he's so caught up in sensationalism and critiquing things he has no clue about.

The ending was brilliant, a real fuck-you to expectations, but that doesn't make up for two and a half hours of torture.  This is not Dancer-in-the-Dark life-affirming torture, either.  This is not transcendental.  This is emotional pornography from a wunderkind past his prime.

[03]

now i can sleep at night.

[ono]

now i can sleep at night.

Glad I could help cure your insomnia.  Cinephile should know something about that, too, if you're still having trouble.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Ono, I'm trying to find your actual criticisms in that bizarrely insubstantial review. Tell me if there's something else...

Finally saw this a couple days ago. Horrible film. I have this theory about people who like certain films.  It started with Closer (well, Fight Club actually), and now it is branching out to include Dogville.  The theory is not fleshed out yet, but the gist of it is you can tell a lot about polarizing films, and the people who like them.

Dogville started brilliantly.  The opening shot was great, as was the detached pull-back from the first rape.  But from the (1) Dr. Seuss narration to the (2) faulty logic, everything about this was a misstep.  Well, almost everything.

The final conversation between Grace and her father was such a perfect scene, it belonged in another movie along with the settings and characters.  This script was a blueprint for a much better movie somewhere, a movie which Von Trier will never be capable of making because he's so caught up in (3) sensationalism and (4) critiquing things he has no clue about.

The ending was brilliant, a real fuck-you to expectations, but that doesn't make up for two and a half hours of (5) torture.  This is not Dancer-in-the-Dark life-affirming torture, either.  This is (6) not transcendental.  This is (7) emotional pornography from a wunderkind past his prime.

1. That's a pretty unfair and lazy comparison. Just because it's colorful and a little archaic? The narration helps with the fairy tale atmosphere. I thought it served a similar purpose as Barry Lyndon's narration. It, along with the chapter breaks, is just a colorful conceit. Why is that offensive?

2.

i felt a lot of it was over-the-top beyond reason

You lost me when you complained about it being "beyond reason."

3. What do you feel was sensationalized?

4. What exactly is Von Trier saying that he's somehow unqualified to say?

5. Aesthetically torturing? Narratively torturing? Tonally torturing?

6. I don't think it's supposed to be. Were you expecting What Dreams May Come? (Do you mean "transcendant"? I don't think it was supposed to be that either. And I think you're too quick to compare it to Dancer In the Dark, which, by the way, I don't think was ultimately transcendant.)

7. Again... which emotions? which scenes? why?

[Finn]

I'm confused as well by Ono's review. Of course I totally disagree with it being a horrible film. By the way, the movie works much better in theaters. If you want the dvd, then get the 2-disc special edition region 0 version instead of the crappy region 1 with hardly any extras.

[cine]

i love it.

thread rebalanced

[Pubrick]

critiquing things he has no clue about.

this is the bit that fails in every argument against the film. it's not about the film, but about the misconceptions and pretentions one has against von trier. how do u know what he "has a clue about"? i assume ur talking about the america thing. yet we sumhow accept historical dramas from ppl who've never been to 18th century france.

what we know is not always based on what we've seen or where we've been, just as the structure of the town and film itself, it can be what we understand it to mean.

[Stefen]

i bought the region 1 dvd when it was released blindly, and I just can't get through it, i've tried time and time again but it just isn't happening, i'll keep it though cause maybe someday ill finish it or at least impress some chick with it on my shelf between dick tracy and dude wheres my car.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Finished rewatching this tonight. Why haven't I been doing that more often?

And why isn't Dogville widely acknowledged as one of the best films of all time? Seriously though. The writing is just stunning from beginning to end. I found myself basically gasping at something brilliant every few minutes. And it's funny! Darkly comic even in its bleakest moments. Never sacrificing sincere pain for satire, retaining both.

The performances, too, are just... completely their own thing. The same way Yorgos Lanthimos gets something very singular out of his actors, LVT does in Dogville.

It seems like a culturally appropriate time to revisit Dogville in a way I can't quite explain. There was one scene that hit me particularly hard this time. At about 2 hours 22 min, Grace emerges from her shed to find the town's residents inexplicably friendly and cheerful — which, she soon realizes, is only masking the darkness and betrayal underneath.