Rating: 
Summary: A difficult view, in more ways than one...
Review: ...but worth it. There aren't many movies that make me cry the whole way through, but this is certainly one of them. Bjork more than plays Selma: she embodies her, giving Selma a special grace that is as expressive and subtle as her voice. Like Bjork's singing, she seems resigned, but at times overflows with emotion, carrying you with her. Selma is fascinated with musicals, so the movie incorporates musical elements, including singing and dancing numbers. The sequences flow from the imagination of Selma more than the reality of her life, providing a contrast that is strikingly pathological. However, it would be hard for the viewer to accept the layers of misfortune heaped upon her without escaping with her through those scenes, in effect being drawn into her world.
While the pretensions of the director do show through (especially in his unnecessary and obsessive fascination with the "100 Cameras" concept that renders many of the musical scenes distant and obstructed) the power of the story rises above the technical issues, which are more than acceptable for a Cannes film. A recommended see.
Rating:
Summary: Dancer In The Dark is a Work of Art thanks to Bjork
Review: Dancer In The Dark is one of the most amazing films/musicals I have ever seen. What brings this movie to life is the amazing performance by pop star BJORK. Bjork becomes the character and takes you on this amazing emotional journey that you forget she is acting the part. She is truly that good and I have to say puts most of the Oscar Winners in Hollywood to shame. Bjork truly shows acting as a Work of Art and just seduces you with her performance. Here is a description of this wonderful movie with a little help from the back of the DVD. Bjork plays Selma a factory worker in America and a single mother who is losing her eyesight from a hereditary disease. Determined to protect her 10 year old son from the same fate, Selma is working over time and saving her money to get him an operation. In the evenings, Selma escapes into a world where nothing dreadful ever happens," rehearsing for a production for The Sound of Music with her best friend Kathy (Catherine Deneuve). But when a neighbor betrays her trust Selmas life spirals out of control and the lines between reality and fantasy blur and Selma begins to believe her life has become a Hollywood Musical. This is a provocative mix of drama and musical theater in which the movie won the PALME D'OR for BEST PICTURE and BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE for BJORK at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Catherine Deneuve also gives a wonderful performace as Selmas best friend and makes this movie that much more enjoyable. This is one amazing musical and drama film that will inspire you and bring joy and tears to your eyes. Im not much in to musicals but this one is truly a Work of Art and a Masterpiece. Bjork deserved an Oscar for one of the most amazing acting performances to ever grace the screen.
Rating:
Summary: The Blind Fight...
Review: Bjork creates a painfully moving performance in this film. She plays Selma, an imaginative, working class, single mother whom eventually goes blind. Bjork has to raise enough money for her son to receive an operation for the correction of this hereditary blindness. Her son is not even aware of the situation at hand, but the plot slides through all of the hardships Selma goes through for her son and for herself.
This movie portrays what it is like to witness someone who lives their life with complete passion in spite of what has been dealt to them by circumstance. Von Trier's direction is incredible because he keeps his audience enveloped in visually rich scenes, while Bjork's character carries the audience with her voice and talent all the way to the tragically, climactic ending.
Rating:
Summary: Stroke of Brilliance for Bjork & Trier
Review: Bjork is as absolutely brilliant an actress as she is a musician. Her performance merits her "Best Actress" prize and the film direction is just as powerful.
To give you a clue to as where I'm coming from, some of my (other) favorite films are: Rushmore, Dr. Strangelove, 8 1/2, Persona, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Buffalo 66', Breathless(Goddard), etc.
I enjoy films with artistic substance, and 'Dancer in the Dark' is perfect.
Rating: 
Summary: American Gothic tale of an Immigrant Single Mother
Review: Remember the girl at the Academy Awards with the duck on her dress? I've just watched the movie the song was taken from, Dancer In The Dark. It's out on video. The singer's name is Bjork, and she is from Iceland. She composed all of the songs that make up the sound track, and she plays the lead role. Her on screen presence as Selma Jezkova is every bit as unique as she was on stage for the Oscars. Bjork plays a single mother with a twelve-year old son who immigrates to a small town in Washington State, from Czechoslovakia, in the 1960's. She has an inherited eye disorder from which she is rapidly going blind. Her son also has the disorder. She believes Communism is superior to America. She is obsessed with The Sound of Music. She believes that the only good things in America are Fred Astaire, Broadway and Hollywood Musicals. She came to this country because it was the only place that did surgery to correct the condition. She works in a factory and has no health insurance. She works double shifts and does piece work at home to save the money for the operation-for her son only, not for herself. What I like about Selma is that she is an innocent who is passionate and driven about the right things. She looks very mousy and disheveled but is very much alive and in love with life. She lives in a supportive community but keeps everything related to saving money for the surgery a secret. The only things I didn't like about this movie is that many of the sequences were done as musicals. Sections of the movie are a little slow, but the last quarter is powerful and worth waiting for. I don't want to give too much away, but the ending is similar to the ending of The Green Mile. It's the kind of ending which makes you think about the meaning of life. There is also an excellent acting performance by a female prison guard that I found both credible and provocative. It's very interesting that Europeans made a movie set in a small town America. And, by the way, whereas Hollywood likes happy ending, Europeans like movies with sad endings.
Bjork's singing reminds me of the Irish singer Enya, but I don't care for Enya, and I do like Bjork's singing. She is much more passionate. Dancer also reminds me of the movie Savior, both in the similarity of Bjork's singing to the Serbian folk songs on the sound track and to the movie ending. Bjork is the pop, "Diva," of Iceland. Dancer was her first acting role, and she won Best Female Performer at the Cannes 2000 film festival. She has gone back to singing now, but I'd love to see her in another movie role.
About that dress at the Oscars, I can't imagine that whoever designed and picked it had ever been out of Reykjavik, but all of the comments on the Internet, all from Europe, think the dress was absolutely gorgeous. Go figger.
Rating:
Summary: You haven't seen this film before
Review: Lars von Trier has offered us a gutsy movie that defies easy categorization. If you are looking for a film that explores new territory, this is a good place to start. The story-line of the film is of operatic proprotions. Bjork (in a riveting performance) plays Selma, a Czech immigrant who is going blind. Her son suffers from the same condition, and she is working double shifts to earn the money for the operation that will spare him from suffering her fate. Her situation is desperate as the film opens, and it goes downhill from there. Along the way, the themes of guilt and redemption are explored from many different angles. The end is shattering. The scale of the tragedy is larger than life. The filmwork is jarring. Selma's one pleasure in life comes from the musicals, and the film incorporates a series of spectacular musical numbers in which the film lurches from gray to technicolor. The stylized nature of the presentation serves to draw us even more deeply into Selma's very private world. The musical numbers are all freshly staged -- Lars von Trier used multiple cameras to film them all in one take, and then edited together the results. The musical for "I've Seen it All" is one for the ages, but all the rest are memorable as well. (It was unfortunate that Bjork chose the infamous swan-suit for her performance of this song at the Oscars.) You might well hate this film. You might well love this film. I'm not always sure which reaction I have. But you haven't seen this film before -- and that's saying a lot. The DVD packaging is filled with useful extras. It's a valuable part of my DVD collection.
Rating: 
Summary: WILL SOMEBODY GET THIS CAMERA-MAN SOMETHING TO EAT...
Review: ...HE'S GOT THE SHAKES. AND CONSIDERING THE BUDGET THIS FILM HAD, THEY PROBABLY COULDN'T AFFORD TO FEED THE CAST AND CREW. THE CHARACTERS ARE ANNOYING, THE ACTORS ARE ANNOYING, THE CUTS ARE ANNOYING, THE CAMERA WORK IS ANNOYING IS THIS SENTENCE RUNNING ON. WELL SO DOES THIS ANNOYING MOVIE. TO BE HONEST I COULDN'T FINISH IT. BJORK IS NOT A GOOD ACTRESS OR EVEN FACTORY WORKER, BUT IT TAKES ALOT OF TALENT TO WATCH THIS MOVIE ALL THE WAY THROUGH. I WANTED TO BE AMONGST THE 50% OF THOSE WHO LIKED THIS MOVIE. HOWEVER I DEFINITELY AGREE WITH THE OTHER HALF. BJORK SHOULD STICK TO WHAT SHE KNOWS, MUSIC AND PICKING FIGHTS.
Rating:
Summary: A courageous film
Review: Selma (Bjork) is a simple-minded young mother who works herself mercilessly in order to save money to pay for a medical procedure that will save her son from the same medical condition that is claiming her own eyesight. This film depicts the many pitfalls she encounters as she attempts to accomplish her goal. Director Lars von Trier has made a remarkable film that makes use of some interesting oppositions. The plot is pure melodrama, yet it is filmed in the ultra-naturalistic Dogma style. The story is relentlessly depressing, yet it is a musical set in America--and which film genre is more inherently optimistic than the American musical? These elements, along with a heartbreaking performance by Bjork, make for a fascinating viewing experience. I am sure, however, that there will be many who are unsatisfied with the simplistic plotting and annoyed by the shaky hand-held camerawork.
Rating:
Summary: The only movie that's made me cry
Review: I just have to say it was the most emotional movie I have ever seen. I was brought to tears, and was bawling in front of my television. I wanted to help Selma, the main character so much, and I felt there was nothing I could do. I can;'t put it in words, but this film has made me such a part of it moreso than any other film I have seen, and have never been so moved by a piece of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER of the late 90's
Review: For those of us who are old enough to remember, recall how we raved about SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER when it first came out? Those clothes, the hair, John Travolta, the music...it was so COOL back then. Now go back and watch it again. Not so great is it? Kind of embarassing? That's DANCER IN THE DARK! Ever since I had the misfortune of watching this silly attempt at a pathos play (on an airplane of all places otherwise I would have walked out after the first musical number), I have asked myself these questions three. A) WHY did they make this film?
B) WHY did the critics wet themselves over it?
C) WHY did people rave about this movie when it first came out? And after listening to von Trien's commentary on the DVD I might have an answer to the first question. Like fellow European hack Paul Verhoeven (ROBOCOP, SHOWGIRLS), Trien sought out to make a low budget PARODY of American movies, specifically, musicals. There are certain scenes (the kid riding his bicycle around in circles in the yard while singing a goofy tune in a soprano voice) which seem almost farcical. The plot is nonsensical. If the kid has a disease that is going to render him blind within days or weeks (hence Selma's urgency) why does he not appear to have ANY problem seeing? Is it one of those blindness diseases that kind of sneaks up on you suddenly? Must not be the one that Selma has as she seems to be going blind slowly...you get the point. Also casting Bjork (who had no acting experience) into the lead role seemed like a cynical trick. And having her write and score the movie...I will only say that her 'music' is an 'acquired' taste and leave it at that! So why did the critics hail this film as (pick one) a stunning masterpiece and a triumph of independent film, a 'new era' in film making, a touching 'tribute' to musicals past and so fourth? There was a time when you could film your dog pooping on a camcorder, add some incidental background music and your film could be hailed as a masterful 'art film', it was 'outsider art' breaking into the Hollywood mainstream. Look at the myriad of awful films from that time period (1992-2000) that were critically acclaimed. I like to see creative young directors making innovative new films as much as anybody else does but a NONSENSE plot, TERRIBLE ACTING and HORRIBLE MUSICAL NUMBERS a good indie film no not make! So why did ordinary folks, like you and me, go see this movie and rave about it? Maybe it's because we listen to the critics! THANK GOD we've entered the age of the BIG BUDGET ALL ACTION NO PATHOS THE HECK WITH ART BIG STARS movie! DANCER IN THE DARK would not stand a chance with SPIDER-MAN and REHASH OF THE CLONES breaking all sorts of records and SCOOBY-POOP soon to make its debut...
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