Rating: 
Summary: Cool But Sleepy Movie
Review: After reading the reviews I have seen so far I sprung for this movie. Brazil is my all time favorite movie and the reference to Blade Runner was also positive.There is absolutely nothing similiar to either except that all three are film noir. Unlike Brazil and Blade Runner, this movie could not hold my interest - or my conciousness - I fell asleep after the first 45 minutes and was given a mercy nap of 10 minutes before I was woken up. Part of the problem is the intially cool but ultimately boring lighting where there is no difference between night and day. There are always endlessly flowing linens and water not far away. Another part of the is the monotone tedium of the language and the scenes. Part of it is the absolutely unbelievable - yes I know this is sci fi - story leaps. And I'm not talking about the sanding over of Cairo either. This may be the best movie that I can't sit through. Or it may be one of those movies that is supposed to be so good since it has cool scenery, a hero that who you love and hate at the same time, a dented up VW that is the ultimate in cool when he uses it to have sex with his sex object while she hangs on to the moving windshield wipers - all those things that are supposed to be in a cool movie. This one doesn't quite make it for me. Anyone want to buy a slightly used copy?
Rating: 
Summary: I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE OF CINEMA : LARS VON TRIER
Review: After the death of Federico Fellini, Luis Bunuel and Andrei Tarkovsky and the terrible silence of Ingmar Bergman and Werner Herzog, there are very few first rate european directors still in activity. And among them, we find danish director Lars Von Trier. You can buy now in the Criterion collection his first movie ELEMENT OF CRIME, shot in 1984. ELEMENT OF CRIME is the confession, under hypnosis, of a german policeman to his aegyptian psychiatrist in Cairo. Suffering from severe headaches after a three months trip in Europa, the cop must find the cause of them in his memory. Then begins a journey in a near future Germany. Entirely shot in saturated yellow and orange tones, ELEMENT OF CRIME is a UFO in the european cinematographical production of the eighties. If you've liked the movies of Terry Gilliam, specially BRAZIL, you will certainly fall in love with ELEMENT OF CRIME. I really think that this movie is one of the best science-fiction movies ever made, without interstellar battles nor special effects. It's also an hallucinated thriller involving a serial killer whose victims are young lottery tickets sellers. Finally, you can see it as a surrealistic essay about Europa. With this Criterion release, you will have optional english subtitles (very useful), a theatrical trailer and a not-to-be missed 54 minutes documentary about Lars Von Trier with interviews of the danish author-director and the people who have worked with him. I was literally hypnotized by this documentary. Don't be the last ones to discover this new Master, Movie History is written right in front of your eyes. You just have to consider ELEMENT OF CRIME as A DVD for your library.
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive film-noir in a squalid, post-apocalypse Europe
Review: Element of Crime, the feature film debut of Danish director Lars Von Triel, is the story of Fischer (Elphick), an ex-cop who returns home after 13 years abroad to solve a series of murders. The victims were young girls, all hideously mutilated and the murders continue even though the perpetrator is (apparently) dead. He uses the methods of his aging mentor's book, "The Element of Crime", to enter the mind of the criminal, assuming his persona and retracing - or re-enacting - his steps in order to find him. I was fortunate enough to see this English language Danish film not long ago and found it thoroughly engrossing. Comparisons to Blade Runner are natural, but superficial - Element of Crime focuses much more on intrigue and plot development than special effects or a vision of a futuristic dystopia. It is more of a "traditional" noir in that respect, and Von Triel using the camera as a narrative device to explain almost as much as the dialog could hope to. A little bewildering at first and the minimal use of colour throughout might deter some people, but still an excellent and thought-provoking film.
Rating:
Summary: after the west's last gasp
Review: Having recently seen both Zentropa and the Element of Crime, I must say that I slightly prefer the Element of Crime (though Zentropa should not be missed). In fact, it is one of the finest movies that I've rented this year. This being said, I would not recommend it to everyone. The affect of the film is muted, cold, and damp. Water spills over everything. It is perpetually night. There is a sense of exhaustion and of failed eschatology. The world of Europe has ended in a wet whimper. Every character in the film is damaged, disaffected, and alienated. This is not a fast paced film, nor a "feel good" film with a message we can comfortably take away. The imagery, however, is unforgettable. The sepia and bright green are at times hypnotic, at other times the colors of nightmare. The overall effect is profoundly disturbing. It reminded me, at various moments, of Beckett, Tarkovsky, Greenaway, and Lynch. If this sounds good, you might like the movie. Not, however, for fans of the oeuvre of James Cameron or Robert Zemeckis. I fear it is not something made for those cursed with short attention spans.
Rating:
Summary: Imagery and Story both lovely and hideous.
Review: I love every moment of this film. It's an exquisite puzzle, full of intense details one plucks from the props and the dialogue. That said, it is also a mesmerizing piece of work - when I saw it in the theater, everyone in the audience fell asleep at one point or another, even though we were all enthralled. I'm thrilled to finally have it on video (and DVD soon!), so I won't miss a moment. Plus, I can hit pause for Lars' cameo (he makes a cameo appearance in all of his films; you can watch him age from Element through Idiots) as a hot young skinhead hotel clerk. Woohoo!
Rating: 
Summary: Unwatchable Art House Refuse...
Review: I wanted to watch a murder mystery, I got this instead. The real "Crime" is the one committed by the director of this boring, hard to watch jumble of a movie. This "film" literally hurt my eyes. Its your typical boring, nonsensical, European art house garbage. I guess I was supposed to sit through this red-shifted movie (most everything in the film is red - oooh, how artsy of the director..) and feel really smart for enduring this torture; but I did'nt. Do yourself a big favor, unless you dress all in black and wear a beret, don't even think about watching this train wreck of a film.
Rating:
Summary: Unwatchable Art House Refuse...
Review: I wanted to watch a murder mystery, I got this instead. The real "Crime" is the one committed by the director of this boring, hard to watch jumble of a movie. This "film" literally hurt my eyes. Its your typical boring, nonsensical, European art house garbage. I guess I was supposed to sit through this red-shifted movie (most everything in the film is red - oooh, how artsy of the director..) and feel really smart for enduring this torture; but I did'nt. Do yourself a big favor, unless you dress all in black and wear a beret, don't even think about watching this train wreck of a film.
Rating: 
Summary: See anything else by Lars, but not this
Review: I was sure that I would like this film. I have seen everything Lars Von Trier has made -- save "The Idiots" -- and I have nothing but good things to say about his work. "The Element of Crime," however, is far from his best. The first problem with the film is that it's flat-out dull. And I have nothing against dullness per se; a film can be nearly unwatchable but also be very interesting. Godard's Alphaville is perhaps a good example of this. However, The Element of Crime is also not very interesting. Stylistically it is decent, and one could say impressive for a first time director. For those of you who have seen "The Kingdom," Element is filmed in the same yellowish shades. There are also a number of wonderful shots and sequences. But these stylistic virtues cannot redeem "Element." If you want interesting earlier Von Trier, see "Zentropa" instead -- a movie I can unequivocally recommend. Unfortunately it is out-of-print now. The problem with Amazon's reviews is that they are mostly written either by people who love the movie or people who hate it. Usually you've got to have either some great passion or animus to spend time writing a review. Thus you often don't get an accurate representation of a film or book from the reviews. I neither hate nor love this film, thus I think I can offer the average reader who is interested in it a fair perspective. I would say that if you like Lars you find this film at the local video store, go ahead and rent it. But in the name of all that's holy, do not waste $36 on the DVD or $18 on the VHS. Trust me.
Rating:
Summary: See anything else by Lars, but not this
Review: I was sure that I would like this film. I have seen everything Lars Von Trier has made -- save "The Idiots" -- and I have nothing but good things to say about his work. "The Element of Crime," however, is far from his best. The first problem with the film is that it's flat-out dull. And I have nothing against dullness per se; a film can be nearly unwatchable but also be very interesting. Godard's Alphaville is perhaps a good example of this. However, The Element of Crime is also not very interesting. Stylistically it is decent, and one could say impressive for a first time director. For those of you who have seen "The Kingdom," Element is filmed in the same yellowish shades. There are also a number of wonderful shots and sequences. But these stylistic virtues cannot redeem "Element." If you want interesting earlier Von Trier, see "Zentropa" instead -- a movie I can unequivocally recommend. Unfortunately it is out-of-print now. The problem with Amazon's reviews is that they are mostly written either by people who love the movie or people who hate it. Usually you've got to have either some great passion or animus to spend time writing a review. Thus you often don't get an accurate representation of a film or book from the reviews. I neither hate nor love this film, thus I think I can offer the average reader who is interested in it a fair perspective. I would say that if you like Lars you find this film at the local video store, go ahead and rent it. But in the name of all that's holy, do not waste $36 on the DVD or $18 on the VHS. Trust me.
Rating:
Summary: Sepia Apocalypse
Review: Lars von Trier is a lesser known yet fiercely original and visionary Danish filmmaker who is now best known for his manifesto and newly titled film arena known as Dogme 95. His most recent films are more concerned with human relationships and are more concerned with emotional security. None of this more bittersweet, elegiac tone is present in his bleak, gloomy, and often disturbing debut. Still, however, this has proven to be his greatest work and it is enigmatic in its cinematography which is hauntingly suffused with sepia color, and in its ability to construct a multi-layered atmosphere which the watcher becomes entangled in after every viewing.
The story and the meaning of this film is a profound mystery in itself, as it weaves its tale of a metaphorically invisible serial killer through a post-apocalyptic Europe, where it is endless night filled with varying states: rain and mud coursing like blood through the frame, as well as hellish fires burning at every corner, and subtly dreamlike winds--breezes which blow dust, lotto tickets, and wisps of memories across the ravaged urban landscape.
The center of this complex voyage into the nightmares of the unconscious is a cold and tortured ex-detective, paranoid and yet chained to an esoteric fate in his hypnotic investigation into not only the seven murders of young girls but the element of crime itself, as well, as his own nature seemingly becomes that of the detached and disillusioned criminal, whose only exploits are violent, animalistic sexual acts with a dark, fathomless prostitute in a world of the unconscious resembling a sort of inexplicable Limbo state out of Dante's Inferno.
In the end, it seems that the results of this bloodied seeker's investigation lead to nothing. The hallucinatory quest itself becomes the most intriguing part of this film, which should definitely be watched, and more than once, for that matter.
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