AnAmericaninScotland's profile

AnAmericaninScotland


URL:	http://www.lovefilm.com/profile/AnAmericaninScotland

Recent best rated

AnAmericaninScotland hasn't rated any titles recently.

See all 1738 rated »

Recent collections

Recent review

Bewitching dyspepsic disquietude , 19 February 2012

Melancholia on DVD (2011)
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland
Director: Lars Von Trier
Certificate:
This is an astounding piece of filmmaking that is sadly written-off and dismissed far too quickly by most viewers. I screened this film three months ago and I am still ruminating over the sensations it evoked. Perhaps most astounding is the way in which Von Trier persuades me to experience the afflictions of the beleaguered protagonist through agitating and discomforting events.

Its non-traditional narrative structure and languid pace will surely put-off those viewers unaccustomed to modernist European cinema, as in filmmakers like Antonioni or Resnais. Yet Von Trier's work seems more NEO-modernist: cognitive, yes but its centrality of affect seems to subsume each element of the film -- primarily a pervasive feeling of nausea.

Typically, most audiences don't seek out those films that induce nauseousness, hence their intense negative reactions. Look beyond this. Von Trier has achieved something supremely synaesthetic here. How does he create this sense of disquieting doom from such a docile event (a dysfunctional familial gathering for a wedding)? Why does his depiction of the end of the world -- one seen countless times in a myriad of other films and TV programs -- resonate and disturb so deeply.

This is a truly fascinating film that requires much more effort than 'conventional' movies ask. Take the time to enjoy this piece of art. 3 out of 9 people found this review helpful

Report offending content.

51% from 8,761 members

Report offending content.