Comments on: spoiler alert

By: S. Blizzard Nicknameface

S. Blizzard Nicknameface — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:42:25 +0000

–i think lars was making some statement about how humanity is ultimately animalistic, evil and fucked–
this is interesting, because i don’t think he has a perception of humanity or the human condition. just this prickly “these people did this to me; here’s my response” thing going on. he’s so obsessed with categorization, stark good & evils, but in binary, trinary forms. black-white etc. i mean, the film is very clearly positioned as his “U.S.A. Machine is not Okey-Dokey w/me” which is fine. cool that he wants to sat that. and he personally “rapes” moralistic extremes to get his point across (a la multiple rapes, point blank murder, burning desire/flesh, chains) that he kind of does himself in by running outbounds too often. the metaphors become too vulgar for consumption. not that moderation is the path to vast, unpopular messages, but it’s like, bro, those set pieces are insulting even the people who LIKE your films.
I can see it as valuable psychotherapy, on a rainy day, if you just got punched in the ear by an account or a congressman/woman, following by a stabbing with your own nosebone. otherwise, i’ll just as likely watch ‘weekend at bernie’s 3: motherfuck formaldehyde.’
the coloring of these comment boxes is killing my eyes.

By: jshep psychotherapy squadron

jshep psychotherapy squadron — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:00:40 +0000

i can ignore von trier’s pretentions and character shizz cuz he does the same thing in every movie. seriously, i watched dogville solely to observe the nicole kidman character as a form of psychotherapy. and it totally worked.
lucie, i was thinking that in the end scene, the dad is pointing out, in a harsh manner, that she takes her faith in humanity to such an extreme she excuses other peoples’ abhorrent behavoir. she says “i understand this person was in pain so it gives them the right to be a major asshole to me,” like her empathy ends up being self destructive. the consequence is that she freaks out from bitterness and overexposure (and too many goddamn rape scenes) and swings to the other end, so numbed by mistreatment that she can shoot her onetime lover in the nape of the neck. The dad was the conscience character, but he was also on the other extreme–a flawed ethical compass, him being a murderous gangster and all.
i think lars was making some statement about how humanity is ultimately animalistic, evil and fucked–a view so dark and cynical and privileged in his way–but he also made a very salient point about how too much empathy can translate to self-destruction, that yr in grave danger if you believe TOO MUCH that humanity is inherently good, so much that you can’t let yrself see that others–even those who are ostensibly your lovers and friends–might not always operate with yr best interests in mind. That selflessness can provoke selfishness. And that martyrdom takes a great deal of arrogance, which is totally true.
Von Trier DEFINITELY hates women, though.

By: louis-georges

louis-georges — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 20:13:21 +0000

oh come on. dogville is just another movie from lvt that fails to move the cinema forward from what it was already able to achieve in the mid 1970s. it palpably thinks it invented feature length avant-gardery and in general has no sense that others have made movies before. if it were a poem y’all would spit on it.

By: lucie

lucie — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 15:27:32 +0000

Loved it. I loved it! Here’s what I haven’t figured out yet, though. The James Caan speech in the car that so inspires her to go gun everybody down, where he tells her that she’s arrogant to be so ‘understanding’ of these people’s behavior – are we supposed to agree with that, or are we supposed to think he’s a shallow bastard and she was just a victim? I saw his point. She made herself a martyr. That’s what you get for not holding people up to higher standards – sometimes you just encourage them to sink lower. Or that’s what I thought I got from it anyway, but no one I’ve talked to seems to have any idea what the hell I’m on about.
Anyway, I liked it.

By: mo

mo — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 13:27:17 +0000

i like the apocalyptic hellraiser version of let us know praise famous men at the end.

By: ritchey

ritchey — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:57:46 +0000

the revenge was awesome, but shit I hated that movie and I hate Lars von Trier! Who would have thought violent rape scenes could actually become boring? THANK YOU LARS. Plus, I think some divine wisdom was supposed to be imparted unto me in the car scene with James Caan, but I was totally baffled. Conclusion: von Trier does not like women, or really anybody else. Have you seen “the Five Obstructions?” YOU MUST SEE IT IMMEDIATELY.

By: sheptronica

sheptronica — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 00:09:36 +0000

believe me, i have major von trier problems, like yknow, showing dust bowl photos thru the credits. Actually, obtusely, i didn’t even pick up on the terror-state allegory ’til i read some reviews (excluding terrible-acting chloe sevigny’s LEADEN “yr either with us or against us” line). I was too busy solipsistically applying the emotional plight of nicole kidman’s character to my own life, per jessica and her therapist.
That said, i don’t think you have to set foot in america to understand its contradictions, or opine on its social issues. I just thought it was like the von trier take on “our town,” throbbing with his own martyr fantasies per usj, but sneaking in some poetry, even if he’s busting his self-hating-catholic dictum over yr head like a ripe pomegranate. I thought a lot of the language was beautiful, that Kidman was excellent, that there were too many rape scenes (hence mean, manipulative). but ultimately he found it in his palette to write in the woman-protagonist find such poetic redemption for the first time, which surprised me. and oh it was such delicious revenge.
also isn’t von trier’s whole deal about interloping–filming thru the lens of THE OTHER (i.e. fragile/crazy woman, mentally disabled hospital employees and patients), that which he is not, so he can pity and ultimately eroticise the suffering of beautiful creatures? but he took that impulse to a different end here. nicole kidman got to blow out the brains of her betrayer, and free herself from her own mental holding pen. (tho i guess morally the consequence was her embitterment and loss of innocence, which shows v.trier’s cynical opinion of human nature, but still, i’m most interested in the revenge and psychic redemption of this movie)
that said that said, i am probably not going to rent manderlay anytime soon.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 22:23:57 +0000

yer trippin’. i can’t think of a more thoughtless, Internet-driven, blathering idealogue than von trier. good filmmaker, but holy shit i wanna punch that guy. not even on some patriot shit, just in terms of actualization. dude has never seen this country.
p.s. Manderlay, the follow-up, is supposed to be a fucking abomination of a discourse on slavery and race in this country. let’s get psyched.