Rating: 
Summary: Lars von Triers'masterpiece
Review: Zentropa is much more than a simple movie. The experience you feel when you are under the control of time in the railroad is a brilliant idea that slowly mesmerizes you in a nightmare of horror, passion and death. Lars von Triers built a story where the anguish, the shame, the memory, the werewolf, the loneliness create an evil atmosphere. The edition is unforgetable, the amazing sincronization between the black and white and color, gradually envolves us and make us descends to the unboreable state of tension And this situation is only generated in another film ·Midnight express . of Alan Parker.
Returning to Zentropa, the sense of guiltness surrounds to our american benefactor who initially seems to be in a redemption state . Every one of his achievements are governed by the ethic . But he doesn't realize how the circunstances slowly are engaging him to the gallow. The relationship between him and his uncle, the epic affair with Barbara Sukova, announces us a fate far away he planned it. The performances are superb. You don't find just a hole. The use of the old fashioned effects is a great tribute to the golden age of mude film. From Griffith to Stroheim through the german expressionism Murnau, Wiene and Lang.
The final sequences are so original,fascinating and so beautifully made , that at the end of film the plot permeates your soul and your psiquis several weeks after.
Triers made Breaking the waves and The element of crime, which define him as a brilliant storyteller , with a visual style like very few directors.
Triers belongs to that elite of directors who see upon their shoulders. Creator in the purest sense of the word.
Don't miss the opportunity of watching this movie. You'll appreciate it several times because it's impact will shock you every time you watch it.
This is a true milestone in the cinema story. Orson Welles wherever he is, will be smiling , because Triers is one of his remarkable descendents.
Rating:
Summary: Unjustly Neglected Masterpiece
Review: Zentropa is one of those rare films of which it truly can be said: it's unlike any movie you will see. It's a bloody shame this is not currently available as this is one of those films that deserves a much wider audience. As a personal aside, everyone I've shared this film with - and what a widely disparate assortment of folk that is - has been astonished by it. von Triers pays homage to the great expressionist filmmakers who went before him and he does them proud.
von Triers realizes the medium of film and applies the qualities of a true gesumkunstwerk - every element, from script to lighting, to sounds to visual images and beyond has been carefully, masterfully calculated for its total effect. The entire movie is not unlike a trip and the ultimate destination of Zentropa is both expected and mindbogglingly shocking.
Let's hope Zentropa gets put back out soon for re-release on DVD - maybe with some extras from von Triers.
Rating:
Summary: A milestone in cinema, a gravestone for the human condition
Review: Zentropa is simply the greatest film since "Citizen Kane." An American works as a sleeping-car conductor on a German railroad in late 1945. Viewers should note carefully the course of a dinner conversation early on in the film where neutrality is condemned by a priest: this is the theme of the film, with a profound relevance to today's political events. Try as he might, the American's attempts to be a understanding "nice guy" serve only to tighten the noose. Yet to be passionate and follow one's beliefs wherever they lead is shown to lead to disaster as well. We are doomed to go through the night of mass murder and war if we are to see the light of day.The cinematography, utterly commensurate with the claustrophobic theme, brilliant in its conception, an encyclopedia of noire technique; most of the acting; and the conclusion, rivetingly harrowing as any in cinema--all come together in a magnificent work of art that belongs on the shelf of anyone who understands the power of cinema to speak to the heart and mind co-equally.
Rating:
Summary: A milestone in cinema, a gravestone for the human condition
Review: Zentropa is simply the greatest film since "Citizen Kane." An American works as a sleeping-car conductor on a German railroad in late 1945. Viewers should note carefully the course of a dinner conversation early on in the film where neutrality is condemned by a priest: this is the theme of the film, with a profound relevance to today's political events. Try as he might, the American's attempts to be a understanding "nice guy" serve only to tighten the noose. Yet to be passionate and follow one's beliefs wherever they lead is shown to lead to disaster as well. We are doomed to go through the night of mass murder and war if we are to see the light of day. The cinematography, utterly commensurate with the claustrophobic theme, brilliant in its conception, an encyclopedia of noire technique; most of the acting; and the conclusion, rivetingly harrowing as any in cinema--all come together in a magnificent work of art that belongs on the shelf of anyone who understands the power of cinema to speak to the heart and mind co-equally.
Rating:
Summary: A total work of cinema...
Review: Zentropa is the antithesis of Dogme 95. Everything in this picture is tweeked and manipulated: sounds, background/foreground, camera angles, light, etc. And von Trier demonstrates his enormous talent for mise-en-scene. There are scenes here that are mindblowing. Again: everything is tweeked for maximum effect. The story is weak and undeveloped. However, this is a monumental picture just because there is so much going on. A feast for the eyes and the intellect.
|
