Primal scenes and personal perspectives: LFF Cult 2022 first published by BFI Includes capsules of: You Won’t Be Alone, The Origin, Attachment, The Kingdom Exodus, New Normal, Linoleum A film’s cult status is normally defined by a peculiar kind of audience reception (repeat viewings, fanatical audiences) that has been acquired over time, rather than by…
The House That Jack Built first published by VODzilla.co “I understand Hitler,” stated Lars von Trier in a press conference at Cannes promoting Melancholia in 2011. “I think I understand the man. He is not what we would call a good guy, but I understand much about him and I think I sympathise with him…
Antichrist first published by Film4 Summary: Maverick Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier tells a traumatic tale of mental and marital breakdown in the deep, dark woods. Review: “There is nothing atypical about your grief”, declares an unnamed cognitive therapist (Willem Dafoe) to an unnamed patient (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who also happens to be his wife, and whose grief is,…
Punctuation Matters: or, How Lars von Trier Got The Titular Brackets Bandwagon Rolling first published by Grolsch FilmWorks An early teaser poster for Lars von Trier’s most recent feature(s) comprised nothing more than the writer/director’s name above the film’s title, both written in stark, serifed capitals – but it also revealed the filmmaker at his…
Review first published (in slightly shorter version) by Film4. Synopsis: Controversial Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier rounds off his ‘Trilogy of Depression’ with a tale (in two parts) of sexual liberation, oppression and exploitation. Review: “Fill all my holes, please.” It is perhaps not as catchy as the line “Chaos reigns” from Lars von Trier’s Antichrist…
The Five Obstructions (De fem benspænd) first published by Movie Gazette In 1967, Danish director Jørgen Leth made a short black and white film called The Perfect Human (Der Perfekte Menneske), which declares someone (played by Claus Nissen) to be the perfect man, and then presents him engaged in a range of activities – dancing, shaving, dressing, dining,…