Rating: 
Summary: A Film Like No Other
Review: Dancer in the Dark is a film that stays with you. It has some extraordinary performances which are utterly believable because they are so naturalistic. This is the merit of Von Trier's method of direction. He seems to have allowed the actors a kind of freedom to find their performance. It is as if the whole film is improvised, giving it an immediacy and directness which is quite uncommon. Moreover, the gritty style of the dramatic portions of the film, looking as they do like a documentary, contrast wonderfully with the fantasy musical sequences. Suddenly everything becomes brighter, the colour changes and Björk's strange haunting music begins. This film is like no other I have ever seen. Technically it must be classed as a musical, but it is unlike any of the musicals which Björk's character loves so much. It is almost as if Von Trier has created a new genre. There have been dramatic musicals before, of course, but the drama was of a different kind. The drama of, for example, West Side Story or South Pacific is theatrical and stylised. Dancer in the Dark is dramatically realistic and in the end this makes it all the more shattering. If the viewer is willing to go along with this film, willing to be swept up into its world, the result can be very powerful. I found myself to be emotionally drained and not a little disturbed by the whole experience. This is a measure of the rare quality of the film. It touches the viewer and evokes feeling which remain. It is possible to make one or two minor criticisms. There are far two many Europeans in the cast of a film set in America. Von Trier no doubt wished to use familiar actors, those who had appeared in his other films, but it rather counts against the films authenticity as a portrayal of the United States. Furthermore, Björk's accent means that it is at times hard to believe that she is from Czechoslovakia. Granted she sounds foreign, but her voice is a mixture of Iceland and London. She does not sound remotely Slavic. However, these quibbles can be quickly forgotten, for Dancer in the Dark is a film which once seen can never be forgotten.
Rating: 
Summary: A hauntingly beautiful AND grotesque film ( *minor spoiler*)
Review: There is one thing that even the most jaded viewer must admit about Dancer in the Dark; Bjork's performance was outstanding. She puts her heart and soul into every moment of this film. She is a singer not a trained actor and she certainly doesn't have a movie stars looks but in a movie like this that is all for the best. What she lacks in technical craftmanship she more than makes up for in spirit. When the man who loves her discovers that she is nearly blind she sings "I Really Don't Care"; a powerful paen in which she tells us that she has seen everything she wants and has no regrets even though all around her the world is turning black-- she is content to simply dance in the dark, she has found joy. I watched the film today on video for the first time and I must have replayed that scene a dozen times it is a moment of sheer Platonic Beauty. Unfortunately, right after that the movie, for me at least, falls apart. The next sequence of scenes, while amazingly well acted and directed-- particularly the death scene-- are so illogical and absurd on so many levels that I lost my "suspension of disbelief", without which the magical meditation of cinema cannot produce transcendence. So close and yet. The film also would benifit from a judicious cut or two it seems at least 20 minutes too long. This could have been a great film a true masterpiece. Even so it is well worth watching particularly for old souls with an open mind and a taste for symbolic films that are off the beaten path. artconsultantsinc@msn.com
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: This movie about the lengths that a mother will go for her child isn't just a movie it is an experience! In a world where parents are abandoning, killing, and neglecting their children, Selma will do anything for her's. I am unable to describe how brilliant it is. I have been a Bjork fan for a long time and she gave a spectacular performance that she should have been given an Oscar nomination for. It is an absolute crime that she wasn't and a crime that the film wasn't either. I broke into tears throughout the film, took joy in Bjork's incredible music, and marveled at the stunning camera work. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen and am very proud to own!
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing & Depressing...
Review: First off, this has to be one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. I would not recommend this to a person that is overly emotional. It takes you on an emotional roller coaster-directly to the bottom. There are no, and I repeat *NO* happy scenes in this movie, and the few bright spots are dampened by other things, which I cannot say or it would ruin the movie. Despite that, Dancer in the Dark has spectacular acting, as well as some of the best songs yet from Bjork. You really do get caught up in the acting. The film looks like it was shot with a home camera ala 'Blair Witch', but it is remarkably smooth looking, without making you sea sick. I do not recommend the movie to anyone who does not like dramas, but I heartily recommend the soundtrack!
Rating:
Summary: Very powerful
Review: This is indeed an exceptional movie, very much unlike the others. The last time I remember myself crying while watching a movie was "One flew over the cooko's nest". The "Dancer in the Dark" did it to me again. Excellent sound track, and "I've seen it all" is just a masterpiece that couldn't fit any better. There is also outstanding acting, although I thought that the director's "tricks" to create more "realism" were overdone. Nevertheless, this is one of the movies, just like "Breaking the Waves", which you never forget.
Rating:
Summary: How do you describe this movie . . . .???
Review: This movie has legendarily split audiences in half, between intense hate and intense love. Give credit to Lars Von Trier for provoking such strong conviction in people; that proves he's doing something right. It's a given that I'd see this movie since I'm a Bjork fan, but even without Bjork this would be a great movie; but without her it wouldn't be as great either. Best Picture and Best Actress would've been completely worthy Oscar nominations for this movie, but undeserving movies such as "Gladiator" and "Erin Brockovich" are norms for the Academy. I'd hate to sound trite, but heregoes: "Brilliant."(This movie is) This movie is an intense study of humanity--how situations provoke the actions and emotions in us. Selma is not a weak character, as one reviewer claimed. How many of us would keep a word to someone with our life at risk? Selma refused to reveal Bill's financial troubles in court, which ultimately would've worked on her behalf. She's a woman with the rare strength to keep a promise, regardless of the consequences. Selma was a simpleton with an iron will, but a tender heart. I won't give the ending away, but it will be one of the most intense cinematic experiences you will ever see. Bjork gave arguably the most powerful performance of last year. The scene where she murders Bill at his request is profound, horrifying, and intense. Even if you hate Bjork's music, as many people do, you cannot deny her acting talent. The music was beautiful--my favorites are "I've Seen It All" "Scatterheart" and "New World", and the choreography was innovative. Overall, this is a movie that you will react strongly to, which only works in favor for it, whether you like it or not.
Rating:
Summary: STARTLING, HAUNTING, BRILLIANT
Review: Don't dismiss Icelandic sensation Bjork just because she wore what looked like a giant dead swan while singing her Best Song nomination at the Academy Awards. This riveting, heartbreaking film won the coveted Palm d'Or for Best Picture at the 2000 Cannes Festival. Bjork plays quiet, heroic Selma, a single-mom factory-worker secretly going blind and saving money so her son, who also has the inherited condition, can have an operation before he too is blind for life. Bjork, who won Best Female Performance at Cannes, composed the startling, poignant songs that illuminate the images and emotions of a woman who retreats into a fantasy world "where nothing dreadful ever happens" while her real life spirals out of control. What sounds sentimental and smarmy is anything but as written and directed by Lars von Trier ("Breaking The Waves"). This visually exquisite film that plays with the blurred borders of reality and fantasy co-stars Catherine Deneuve and Joel Gray. A must see. Bonus material includes commentaries and documentaries as well as song access. (New Line, Color, Widescreen, Dolby 5.1 Surround, 141 Minutes, Rated R, 2001)
Rating:
Summary: Just Great!!!
Review: Don't think about it, you have to see it, i really cry in the last 10 minutes in the cinema, and when i left the movie theatre i have to run to the store to get the DVD and the Soundtrak (which is not the same of the movie). The DVD is great, the selection of Selma's Songs in the special features are really special, it let you go to the song "I've seen it all" in few seconds, and, specialy, i never enjoy the documentals of a movie like i enjoy this, is lovely see Björk when the musicals are ensambled, i realy love this DVD, and i am in love of the movie, don't think about it, you have to see it!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not All It's Cracked Up to Be...
Review: When "Dancer in the Dark" was first released in theaters, I remember being bombarded with well-meaning friends declaring it "the best movie that I have ever seen". " One acquaintance, an especially excitable young lady, affirmed that the film was "so fantastic that it physically overwhelmed me". With such hugely laudatatory reviews, I confess that I eagerly rented the production the very week it appeared on the shelves of video stores. I was met by almost immediate disappointment. On the one hand, this so-called "revolutionary film" is as traditional as possible in its plot, for it tells the precitable story of a pure victim too weak-willed to defend herself from the forces of "darkness" enveloping her miserable life. We are perhaps meant to feel pity for Selma's desperation, or at least exaltation at her ability to escape into the fanstasy of music, were it not for the fact that Bjork's singing is, simply put, bizarre, and that the musical numbers are so outlandish and ridiculous sounding that I often had to hold back peals of laughter. Of course, for those "intellectual types" who recognize the intensity of the emotions supposedly evoked by the film, such a reaction seems barbaric at best; nevertheless, I personally find the woman's character so fundamentally weak, so desperate and strange, that Bjork's odd brand of singing does not overwhelm me with an appreciation for her character's maudlin needs. As it is, the film seems to come off bombastically and with a depressing, ever heavy hand; its moral purpose bludgeons viewers as with a sledge-hammer within the context of a self-consciously "artsy film", the very worst type of movie in my opinion. In a word, from its nauseating camera angles, piercing vocalists and, simply put, weak plot, I see "Dancer in the Dark" as a needlessly depressing and maddening film to be avoided by theater goers. The only reason that I give it two stars instead of one is for the fact that a movie that seems to have touched so many people cannot be "all bad", as it were, but from what I have seen myself, the production seems to have precious few redemptive qualities.
Rating:
Summary: I've Seen It All
Review: With the exception of the last act, Bjork is the only thing that held this film together. Not von Trier's directing, not the support of co-stars (with the exception of Catherine Deneuve) or the musical numbers (which were, in themselves, refreshing when compared to the extravagent numbers Hollywood tends to churn out). Much like Ellen Burstyn in 'Requiem for a Dream', Bjork became her character. You truly believe she is Selma, not Bjork, through most of the film. Her heartwrenching performance brought me to tears in the final act, especially right at the very end. For the life of me, I can not understand why she was not awarded at least an oscar nomination. Surely anyone would agree that, despite the fact that she is primarily a musician (which should be beside the point), she gave a far superior performance than the majority of actresses this past year. At least she was awarded by Cannes, and I guess that will have to do.
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