Manderlay Reviews

A Challenging Film

This film is guaranteed to produce polarized reactions from viewers.

Set shortly after the events of Dogville, Manderlay deposits Grace and a group of gangsters at an Alabama cotton plantation where slavery is still in force seventy years after the Civil War. Naturally, she emancipates the slaves and then forces the plantation's owners to work side by side with them.

This being Lars von Trier, what results is no fairy tale. The issues that are explored are very contentious and this is far from an easy watch. However, even if you hate everything that von Trier has to say, the film will at least make you ask questions and you will be thinking about it long after it's finished. Don't leave before the end credits have run either, as they are very much part of the film.

This sure ain't Wedding Crashers, but cinema thrives on diversity and I feel that it is well worth watching and discussing.

promise me i'll never be trapped in a lift with 'von' trier

i'd love to say this was a noble attempt at dealing with serious societal issues, but instead it's just an annoyingly smug 'moral tale' from arch simplifier and stone-thrower, lars 'von' trier. does 'mandalay' raise serious issues? yes. does it deal with them well or do them (or the audience) justice? not for my money. theatrically and stylistically, if you've seen 'dogville' you really don't need to see this; morally, if you need 2-and-1/4-hour sermons on the bleedin' obvious to fuel meaningless, momentary white-european indignation, then this'll be right up your alley. self-righteous nonsense. worse, simply tedious. in any way entertaining or thought-provoking? um, no. trying to be too damn clever-clever for it's own good? absolutely.

Lars pushing his luck.........

I thought that 'Dogville' was fantastic and 'Breaking the Waves' and 'Dancer in the Dark' are two of the best I've ever seen (thereby establishing my Von Trier credentials). This one, however, just didn't do it for me. The stage format worked magnificently with 'Dogville' mainly due to its novelty and the extraordinary performances of it's 'A' list stars: Kidman, Gazzara, Bacall, Caan and Anderson. However, Bacall doesn't last long in this sequel and Bryce Howard just doesn't have the star quality or subtlety of the great Nicole. Glover plays the same sympathetic but ultimately irritating character he always plays. The rest of the cast are mediocre at best and the story is plodding and predictable - there is a twist but it fails to get the pulse racing. There's still one more film left in the trilogy - let's hope the director gets out on location for it.

Pretentious? Maybe. Good? Definitely.

Like Dogville, the lack of set and the strange narrative style gives this a feel of a group of sixth formers trying to disguise their lack of prop-buying funds as radical theatre. But look beyond this, and Von Trier tells an enthralling story, complete with twists, which is well worth following to it's thought provoking conclusion. Easy to watch? No, and not just because it looks like it's filmed in a warehouse. It deals with heavy subject matter, pulls no punches, and left me with more questions than it answered. But then, that's what good films do.

Great for Deep Thinkers

I loved Dogville and this is more of the same. If you like to think outside of the box and have a tendency to think about life and events in a philosophical way, then this is for you. Shallow it is not.

I do not consider myself a 'philosopher' as such, but am aware that my brain appears to work differently to those who enjoy films like 'Along Came Polly' and who like to watch soaps - I require a different kind of stimulation to make me 'tick'. In particular, I love a film that makes me challenge my own pre-conceived notions. I hope that you enjoy this film too.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Asks deep questions

Although the film looks similar to 'Dogville' with its strange chalk-lined sets I do not feel there is any connection plot-wise. It begins when a group of gangsters (i think in the 1920s) find a town that seems to have remained frozen in pre-emancipation American Deep South society. The film's heroine (a gangster's daugther) then attempts to rebuild the slave society with free-market democratic values. But is it what they really want and is it really a better system?

This is a very probing film that turns preconceptions about race and slavery on its head.

Manderlay

I can understand in this day and age that Hollywood filmmakers want to do something deep and meaningful. Theirs is a shallow world after all. This takes it a bit far though. Can't imagine the kind of people who like this dirt. I would so much like to be a fly on the wall listening to these anally retentive people discussing the virtues of this film - for comedy value alone. I think it is a rip-off. Just like Dogville, this film did not include the phrases 'play on film' or 'not a real movie, more like 2 hours of mime' in the synopsis. I think they should at least say 'very pretentious, watch at own risk' so that unsuspecting viewers do not get caught with a dud film on the one weekend they decide to stay in. My 3 rentals are too precious to waste on this filth. Most annoyed...

Dogville Part 2

Because I had seen Dogville, I knew what to expect from this sequel. However I did regret the change of the principal cast. It needed to be seen as following on from the first film. After all Indiana Jones would not have been the same without Harrison Ford in every film.

Meddling Grace

Von Trier has, yet again, made another refreshing, challenging and different film. Dogville pushed the boundaries and Manderlay seeks to push even harder and further. A fantastic film .... but when will Grace learn to keep her nose out?

[Highly rated reviewer]

Manderlay!

This was the first time i found myself watching a Lars von Trier movie and I was pleasanty suprised. With more emphasis on style and acting, this is a very moving film that should not be missed.