Rating: 
Summary: I've seen it all...
Review: A musical story of a Czech immigrant working in America to save for an operation to cure her son of a hereditary eye disease may sound like a potential platform for all manner of pro-American propaganda. "Dancer In The Dark", however, smartly works against this cliché and delivers not only terrific entertainment of the most visceral and gut-wrenching kind, but works as a terrifying indictment of the American judicial/political system as well. Filmed in cinema verité style (ie. a bit like "The Blair Witch Project" but by professionals), the film veers between risky socio-realism and musical artifice with glorious, ironic ease, ever aware of the trappings of the genre and never afraid to turn them on their head. Love it or hate it (and bizarrely, many do), there's no denying the guttural impact of Lars Von Trier's neo-musical. Bjork, maintaining an uncompromising integrity throughout, offers a stunning performance as the ailing Selma, smartly supported by the likes of Peter Stormare, David Morse, and Catherine Deneuve. Bjork's songs, fusing discordant electronics with soulful strings (particularly the wonderful "I've Seen It All"), are typically innovative and affecting, forming a worthy addition to the singer's back catalogue. The staging of the musical numbers is as innovative as it is wonderful, the choreography presented as a series of colourful, escapist daydream fantasies, while the denouement achieves a tragic, almost Shakespearean clarity. Once seen, this morosely serious movie will not be forgotten.
Rating: 
Summary: You're always there to catch me
Review: I respect Lars Von Trier, his pure and heinous arrogance aside he is a filmmaker of the highest calibur. Breaking the Waves was one of the best movies of the 90's and I think one of the most heartbreaking and disturbing movies I have ever seen. With that in mind, I went to see Dancer in the Dark. Again, the dogma influence is there, it isn't in full-effect, but the psuedo-documentary stylings are all apparent. Shaky camera, natural light, stark surroundings, it's all there. This movie is a mixed bag, it's very pretentious and discards all of reality in the process. Obviously, Lars went out of his way to make the anti-musical, but I like musicals and I don't appreciate them getting trampled as some illegitimate form of entertainment. As most have said Bjork gives a great performance, reading interviews and things it seems she went the method acting route and just dove straight into the character. It shows, the performance is relentless. Not to be overlooked are Peter Stormare of Fargo fame, and David Morse, who both give excellent performances in supporting roles. The main problems I have with this movie is the false emotion, the circumstances of some of the events, and the slap-in-the-face ending. Von Trier is known for putting his female characters through the ringer, and just laying layer upon layer of hell on them. This is no exception, Selma as she is called, is basically destroyed in this movie. It seems Lars loves watching women suffer, or maybe it is what he is good at capturing, who knows. Lastly, I have watched the movie 2 times, and I just burst out laughing when the safety-deposit box beating occurs, I find it comical for some reason. Call me sick, but that's me. The soundtrack is excellent, but I have written about that too much. The movie is fairly entertaining, but all in all it just seems like manipulation. But then again it is a musical.
Rating:
Summary: The happy death
Review: After watching "Breaking the Waves" I thought that Von Trier's movies are very good and very talented, but too dark and real for me. I liked the movie but at the same time I hated it for the dark/stark portrayal of everday life.I thought that "Dancer" will have the same effect on me and that's why I went to see it with some prejudice. I thought that it will be cruel and depressing but actually it soon became clear that the movie is quite opposite the idea I had created in my mind. Well yes, Bjork dies a very awful death and even her life can not be depicted in bright colors, but it is not this way for her. For her the world is full of colors and clear lines even despite her near blindness. For her the life is full of music and sounds and is in fact just the non-song pieces between the songs in some musicals. But when the singing begins, it is allright again. The most interesting visual effect is the difference between real life and singing scenes. The real life is filmed with a handheld 8mm camera and the singing scenes are done with steady betas, so the songs look more colourful and more real-film-like than the rest of the movie. Selma/Bjork speaks very much about her fondness towards musicals and that's why the singing scenes of the movie make it a happy one. It shows that we all have a place in where to hide, when everything else seems to go the bad way, the down way. And when the last song, the song that must be the greatest in a musical and at which ending the camera must fly up into the sky, is filmed with a handheld camera it becomes clear that "Dancer in the Dark" has a happy ending. That the clear line between musical and real life starts going hazy/blury, and that Selma has nohing to fear anymore. This is the grand finale and the camera starts to fly towards the sky. Everybody else watching the movie with me thought it was very depressing and they couldn't understand me, when I said that it was a film about an American Dream come true. Well, it is, and I liked it because I never knew before that this coming true can be shown this way.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't need to beg for emotion
Review: This movie was incredible! I am a Bjork fan and had heard all about the movie and decided to go see it. I was skeptical about how Bjork's music would fit into a movie as serious as this. It fit so perfectly! Bjork was amazing! The camera shots are excellent and add so much to the movie. I loved it and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone . . . bring your kleenex!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly original but flawed
Review: Lars von Trier returns with another controversial episode in his very controversial career. In case you don't know who he is (and most people probably don't), Von Trier set out in his film career with an ambitious and self imposed regimen. His first three films, he proclaimed, would be all about flashy style and he went about making them exactly as he said. The last in that series, Zentropa, was especially well received. For his next three he would make it about the acting - no flashy camera work, no special effects, etc. The first in this trilogy was Breaking the Waves and met with much critical praise. The second is Dancer in the Dark and boy howdy has he made some people angry. You probably heard about Dancer and it's lead, Icelandic singer Bjork, winning the highest prize at Cannes this year over the catcalls of many critics in the audience. When I heard that, I thought maybe it was just Von Trier and his challenging style again that they were booing at. Breaking the Waves was an outstanding story shot in mostly natural light with the improvised quality of a home movie, and I loved it. Not for the crappy film quality, but for the story - many people have called it the most emotional film they've ever seen and I'd say it's certainly one of them. When I heard his next film was a musical with Bjork in it, I couldn't wait. Anyone who knows her will tell you that she has one of the most affecting voices in music today - it simply screams with emotion even when she's doing her little trademark squeaks and growls. And this is precisely the reason the film doesn't work. Bjork plays little Selma, a Czech immigrant working at an American factory making steel pots. She lives in a small room behind her landlord's house with her little boy and is slowly going blind from a genetic disorder. Knowing that her son will need an operation soon to save him from the same fate, she works double shifts to save money for him as well as doing odd jobs part time. Meanwhile, her girlfriend at the factory Kathy (Catherine Deneuve) takes her to the movie and narrates the action as well as watching over her at work to be sure no one notices that Selma is operating heavy machinery that she cannot see. To escape from all this, Selma dreams of Hollywood musicals and here is where Von Trier will catch you off guard. The factory sounds begin the first little musical interlude as clanking machines and riveters start the song and we're launched into a full blown, choreographed musical number under the most dank and oppressive lighting. It's magnificently unusual. Further escaping in to the world of the musical, Selma joins the cast of a local production of The Sound of Music and again Kathy winds up helping her hide the fact that she can't see the edge of the stage. In true Von Trier fashion, it's simply hopeless melodrama. That wouldn't be a bad thing in and of itself, but when things start going seriously wrong, Von Trier stretches the characters credibility to the breaking point. Selma's big hearted land lord Bill (David Morse, 'Brutal' from The Green Mile) winds up sharing his secrets with her one night and she quickly discovers herself in a situation in which she has to commit murder to save her son. Then the trial happens and Selma is once again trodden on - basically everything that can go wrong does. By the end of the film, we've seen so much of her bad luck that we just stopped believing in her as a real person. And that's the central failure of Dancer in the Dark. Bjork's musical numbers are so impassioned and so effective that it's a real shame Von Trier didn't just go whole hog with it - make an out and out musical. Then the melodrama wouldn't have mattered because we expect that in a musical. Her number on a railroad bridge where she can no longer hide the fact that she's blind, simply brought the house down. Dancing along a bridge and playfully falling on and off the passing train while she sings about having seen everything she needs to - it's just astounding. We were reduced to blubbering idiots after seeing that. Then by a later number in the theater where Selma says she loves musicals so much because "there is always someone to catch me." In the end, though I like Von Trier very much, I have to say he made a misstep on this one. When you have a talent like Bjork, whose acting (though very admirable) will never compare to the power of her singing voice, you have to take advantage of it. The upshot of it all is that the non-musical portions of the film drag horrifically by comparison. By the time we come to the finale, we still don't find ourselves engaged by these characters partially due to the aforementioned weakness but mostly because they're simply not believable in a realistic setting. If Dancer in the Dark were allowed to live on that fantasy plain of the musicals that Selma loves so much, we could buy into it. As it is, Von Trier reduces the gorgeous music to mere melodrama. But man that music is great!
Rating:
Summary: Simply amazing
Review: I've just watched this movie and I'm surprised and speechless. I'm not a Bjork fan, but I must admit she was perfect in the role of Selma, an imigrant who suffers from a genetic disease which will make her blind. She has a son, and her only concern in life is raise money to pay for his surgery when he turns 13. She works in a noise, dark and depressing factory, and loves broadway musicals. Due to this fact, she lives magical moments in this hard task, imagining she and her co-workers are part of a real musical. The plot is simple, but at the same time deep, showing what a parent can do in life to save his children. I have to recognize it's a very dramatic film and almost everyone leaves the movie theater crying. But this is only a detail in such a powerful and timeless story. A film everyone should see!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: This fim by Lars von Trier is as beautiful and gripping as Breaking the Waves. From the beginning on you will be sucked in with the dramatic developments. The end of the film is really brilliant and in a way very 'logical'. Normally I don't like films where people suddenly start singing, but with Dancer in the Dark it just fits. I have never heard an entire cinema audience hold their breath. But Von Trier managed just that. Incredible.
Rating:
Summary: A Breathtaking Movie
Review: There are no words to describe Bjork's acting work in this movie. When I watched Dancer in the dark, I found myself completely drawn into Selma's world and I could really symhatize with her. The characters were so real that you could actually feel their emotions when watching the movie. I've never seen anyone being more real than Bjork was as Selma, giving her life. The plot was a little bit sloppy, but the actors were so great that it didn't bother me much. Even though the camera work has been critisized a lot, in my opinion it just gave the movie a bit of a documentary feeling, like the wiewer is seeing Selma's life through the eyes of some outsider. A great movie and breathtakingly acted. Had me crying in the end left me speechless fo a long time. A definite must see, even if Bjork isn't one of your favorite actors.
Rating:
Summary: Great Acting, Sloppy Story
Review: I'm not alone in saying that this film both leaves a powerful imprint on anyone who watches it and infuriates at the same time with its fairly mediocre storyline and lack of attention to detail. First about the good things though. I'm not a huge Björk fan, but after watching "Dancer" I had to acknowledge her superior acting skills -- it truly seemed like a one-time experience that squeezed the most out of her. Similar praise goes to "Cathy" Deneuve who was quite good at what she was doing as Selma's friend. But the musical interludes must have been the element I enjoyed the most: they were simply good songs, the movie served as a great video to them, and the actual idea of incorporating this sort of a techno-Björky act amidst this film, set in the 1960s in a rather prosaic context, was very interesting, to say the least. Plus, looking at the main character's delusions (who in fact seemed like an eight-year-old throughout the film; her son appearing more mature) was quite touching. Despite all this, you can't help thinking of Selma as Björk, there's no way she resembles a Czech immigrant -- if they'd tried hard enough, they would've figured out how to properly pronounce Oldrich Novy, at the least! The supporting cast were so obviously un-American; the landscapes so conspicuously non-Washington State; and Björk's accent, so bloody Cockney.... Apparently von Trier's idiosyncracies, such as the famed fear of flying, and thus shooting most of the scenes in southern Sweden, were kicking in big-time. He was making his art (the camera work, that I should have mentioned, too, rocked), not teaching us geography, I guess. To top off my criticisms, the story was so bland and simple and not special at all. This film was about acting, as I said. Oh well, it was a difficult movie to watch -- it caused a lot of mixed feelings. Still, it was definitely a fresh introduction to my viewing repertoire for this year. If you're not the Arnie Schwarzenegger or X-Men type, you might like it.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most beautiful movies ever made...
Review: This is unquestionably my most favorite movie ever made. Everything about this movie is just so breathtaking. If the musical numbers weren't in this movie it would be very difficult to handle, but because of it, the film is merciful in terms of your emotions. If you don't cry at the end of this movie I have no idea what else can. Bjork is amazing, Catherine Deneuve is amazing, everybody is amazing. GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!
|
