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I just saw this movie last night, and I'm going to copy what I have on my blog, because it's just faster. I know my thoughts aren't terribly organized, but at least it's a list of what stood out. Someone else hurry up and see it so I can talk about it!
I was so impressed I barely know where to start:
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
the set: vulnerable and exposed, like Grace - and so unexpected. in some ways von trier's work strikes me as such a director's heavy hand, as he cuts the shots so obviously, gives us such maddeningly unrealistic(?) plot developments, and because in so many ways his work comes back to Brecht: there are reasons other than romanticism for why people do what they do. On the other hand, this was really an actor's film, in the way that the stage exposes the actor more. We are aware of their physicality as people, less as celluloid fictions.
top-lighting for the prologue and a cyclorama wash for daytime - just another thing to make me happy.
the audience tittered the first time someone opened and closed a door in Dogville, and by the end, i had noticed that there were many subtle and different ways to close an invisible door.
excellent script (especially the last ten minutes, which should have been much more difficult)
the occasional indulgence ("I'll wait for 15 bells" as opposed to "one for go, two for stay," which in my mind would have sufficed, but of course wouldn't have given her the chance to count them all in her head and given us a stronger reinforcement of the bond between each Dogvillean and Grace... okay, so i guess i'll let that one slide, too)
Lauren Bacall: still a fantastic bitch! In fact the only actor who irritated me from time to time was Chloe Sevigny. Because she really seemed to be "acting" sometimes... hard to explain. in a drama-school kind of way. she had her moments, though.
vengeance for Grace (and Selma, while we're at it - I couldn't have been happier at the end, after getting so angry somewhere around chapter 5 that i was going to watch another film about a female victim who refuses to stand up for herself)
weird transfer of guilt: when i heard "shoot them all and burn the place down" i couldn't have been happier. as i saw the characters scattering in front of the bullets, i only remembered their kindness, their innocence. when the camera cut back to Grace, razeing the town became justified. Grace took responsibility for their deaths, and i was happy again. especially when Tom got it.
about the dog, whose appearance really jarred, i would only like to say this: "my dog barks some. mentally you picture my dog, though i have not yet told you what kind of dog he is." |
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