Rating: 
Summary: dancer hits the mark
Review: When I heard that Bjork had come out with a new movie, I was very skeptical about seeing it. I had never seen Bjork in a film, and was afraid that maybe I would be disappointed in the movie. So when I went with my two best friends which are also big Bjork fans like me, I had set myself into thinking this movie is going to suck. After the movie was over, and the credits were rolling, I had already been in tears 10 minutes before. I've never cried so hard in a movie before. You know how at the end of the movie, everybody gets up and leaves, not this time. Everybody just sat there, stunned, awed, and crying. The movie was awesome as well as tragic. And Bjork was stunning in her role as Selma. Lars Von Trier is a genius, as well as Bjork. How they leaded into the musical parts of the movie were done beautifully. I listened to the soundtrack after the movie, and it's funny how much more that cd made sense. I love Bjork, and her music, and I recommend this movie to everybody. You will have a whole new level of respect for her, not only as a singer, but as an actor.
Rating:
Summary: dancer in the dark breathes light into cinema
Review: To watch this film can be called an experiance to say the least. You are taken through a carefully orchestrated mix of emotions that is the life of selma (excellently portrayed by bjork).Lars von trier has perhaps made the best film of the new millenium and one that all films should aspire to. From the carefree camera work to the quick and snappy editing the film works by both focusing on the main actors and by showing the reactions of those around them, this is perhaps the of the most striking element of the film as it draws the audience in as though they were bystanders and it serves as an excellent example of gutsy editing. When looking at the story line it can be said that the film is one of contrasts. We meet selma the moralistic migrant worker in an opprutunistic depiction of the USA, we also have the contrasts between the real world and the musical world, the rich and the poor and ultimately the innocent and the guilty. Musically the film is marvelous. The music is a perfect compliment to the films ups and downs and serves as a form of excapism for both selma and the audience in general. The strength of the music is especially noticible during the climax where we see the film and the actors at their best. Bjork is perhaps one of the greatest finds in the acting industry. Whilst at first it is hard to get used to her acting style you soon find that you are lost in her world and her innocence shines through her character. Catherine deneuve is the other major strength in the film. As Selmas faithful friend she serves as one of the films best emotional forces. Her every reaction holds an intencity that goes beyond the celluloid and strikes the audience with a previously unseen intencity.Award winning, inspiring, Original, and amazing. The film deserves all of the accolades that it has gotten and so much more. Whether or not it wins any major american awards depends really on how they react to lars von triers take on their society. However anyone that has seen the film knows that it is a winner already and a film that any modern cinema goer should not miss.
Rating:
Summary: Best movie of 2000
Review: Lars von Trier keeps amazing me. He dares to put musical scenes at the most dramatic points in the movie, an act others would not have dreamt of. Strangely it works: some scene massive, with a huge choreography, other uni sono. This makes those scenes stand out even more. The un-Hollywoodlike ending is very strong. This definitely is a movie that will stick to you for quite some time.
Rating:
Summary: Great Film I Don't Want to Watch Again
Review: For much of Lars Von Triers newest non Dogme 95 film, I was having a flashback to nearly every bleak and depressing Danish and Swedish film I've ever seen. This is bleak, this is depressing, and I know it's going to get worse before (or should say if,) it gets any better. It's in English, and Bjork's elfin face is a fascinating one to watch, even without make-up (which is usually how we see it) and in too close close-up in Dreyer (Passion of Joan of Arc) fashion. For the first 40 minutes of the film we are treated to some of the most seemingly natural unassuming acting your likely to see this year. There's a very good reason why Bjork won the top acting prize at Cannes this year. You've probably heard how she nearly had a breakdown on the film's set and talked about never acting again. She's since softened her one time bitter feelings toward Von Trier. The entire cast however are quite good. Even cult star Udo Kier in his cameo is unassuming in his portrayal of a doctor. Peter Stormare (who does a nice job in Chocolat) impresses in the rather thankless role of Jeff, a not too bright factory worker who has a crush on Selma. The film gets a huge boost from the acting of the ecclectically cast melting pot of thespians. Americans, Danes, French, Russians, all populate the small Pacific Northwest town where most of the film takes place. It's 1963. The former Sugar Cube leader singer, Icelandic Bjork is cast as Selma a Czech immigrant, single mom. She is working in a factory that makes stainless steel sinks. Selma is friends with , and works next to Kathy (who is played surprisingly by Catherine Deneuve -in a wonderful emotional performance ) and lives in a small trailer on the property of Bill (another wonderful performance from David Morse) and his wife Linda (Cara Seymour) who's spending more than Bill makes. Selma's passion is Hollywood musicals and she's rehearsing for a local theatre production of The Sound of Music (she's playing Maria Von Trapp). However, Selma is going blind, fast. She'll probably be completely blind in less than a year and it's begun to affect her. She also knows her son has the same genetic condition that is taking her sight. It's too late to save her own sight, but Selma is working a couple of different jobs to save enough money to afford an operation for her son. A son she doesn't even spend money on to buy Christmas or Birthday present (because every dime must be saved for his operation). How does Selma keep her sanity? She fantasizes about lavish musical numbers. Now this type of thing has been before. A character escapes their bleak life through fantasy in films such as Sherlock Junior, The Projectionist, Purple Rose of Cairo, Cinema Paradiso and of course in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective and Pennies from Heaven, (which was made into an above average film starring Steve Martin). That's what we have here essentially. Only the musical production numbers we eventually start to see aren't much better than the ones Woody Allen gave us in Everyone Says I Love You or the best forgotten Bogdanovich turkey At Long Last Love. Well at least in this film most of the people who sing, actually can. We've seen music videos which have reached all the way back to Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times for inspiration in turning the methodical clunks and hisses of factory machinery into inspirations for musical dance (or comedy) numbers. And there is one of those here. It is enjoyable but it works mainly because of Bjork. Her elfin face and unassuming natural way about her is suddenly hosting this powerful, voice. The effect is mesmerizing. It almost makes you forget to be overly critical of how shoddily the dance numbers are choreographed. 100 video cameras captured the musical number in the factory. I'm sure the best shots were used. Vince Paterson was the choreographer and he's had experience on Madonna and Michael Jackson videos, and cinematographer Robby Muller is bursting with talent. The result is not impressive. We don't get Busby Berkley, Michael Kidd, West Side Story, or even Rocky Horror Picture Show. We get a second rate low budget road company attempting to create a best left on the cutting room floor musical number from the film OLIVER. Nothing here comes close to that wonderfully conceived Grand Central Station musical number in Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King. That's the scene where the rush hour in Grand Central Station suddenly transforms into a beautiful stylized waltz. At one point we even get Joel Grey in one of these fantasies, but we are robbed of a satisfying musical sequence with how Von Trier chooses to frame the shots. He's making points. He's stirring up the emotions in so many ways and setting us up for the knock out punch. I won't spoil it but let's just say, the entire film builds towards what occurs in the film's last 15 minutes. Not just what occurs, but how it is done. The film's final fifteen minute scene is among the most emotional and powerful scenes you'll ever see. Selma's real and fantasy life blend and we are left with the promise of one more song. I think this is one of the greatest films of the last decade, yet there is a lot of things in the film I disliked a great deal. I think Von Trier makes some truly awful choices in some scenes. But I've got to take the movie in as a whole piece and it would be a lie to not say the film left me an emotional wreck. This is, of course exactly what the movie was trying to do. Here we have a film that is not easy to watch, that is full of flaws and disappointments , yet contains some brilliant acting, and delivers a powerful and poignant knock out punch. Christopher J Jarmick, Author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder Available February 2001)
Rating:
Summary: Björk IS Selma
Review: I am a great fan of Björk. I was amazed, however, at how easily I forgot that this person on the screen was the singer on all my beloved Björk CDs. When I saw this in the theater, I sat in stunned silence with the rest of the audience for most of the credits. I wanted to wait for everybody to leave to compose myself, and apparently so did the rest of the theater. Two more screenings over the following weeks, and it was pretty much the same situation each thime the credits rolled. I heard one person (presumably a visitor from another town) comment that they were stunned at how quiet and respectful Philadelphia audiences were. Um, sister... it's NOT the town. If this movie doesn't leave its mark on your heart, have your pulse checked.
Rating: 
Summary: Dancer Misses The Mark!
Review: I know it seems like I haven't enjoyed many films lately and to an effect that's true but this was another case of big hype, huge critical acclaim and disappointing product. Its a contemporary musical if you will, where song and dance will erupt at any moment and while it's interesting concept to both revive the classic musical and integrate with a contemporary drama, it just doesn't seem to work. Without going into great detail of the plot and spoiling it for those who wish to see it, I will just say take a worse case scenario then think of something worse and then something even worse than that and you have the plight of the character Selma (Bjork) in Dancer In The Dark. This film seems as if it were almost made intentionally to create grave depression amongst its audience members however being the cinema going cynic I can be, I was not moved one bit but instead a little bored of how it predictably played out. The only redeeming feature of this film for me was Bjork's amazing voice, while the songs that are sung are not particularly good, Bjork's extraordinary vocal talent shines through. However that says little about her acting ability, while she does play the role adequately and it does seem as if it were a perfect fit, she comes off as if she is merely walking through it at times and not giving it her all (if she has the all to give). Another thing that made me uneasy about enjoying the film was its ragged style of filmmaking being the handheld focus-pulling visuals and jump cut editing. While I appreciate that this as a style and no doubt one used to deliberately evoke realism into the piece to generate a more intense emotional experience, it became unquestionably annoying especially when its shot in widescreen (2.35:1) and the cinema is particularly small (Place Centro, Fortitude Valley), it came out feeling more like an IMAX experience than an emotional one. So while I was hardly entertained and not emotionally moved an inch, I did somewhat enjoy it and put that down at present to Bjork for doing a great job on vox during the musical segments. So as I always seem to say, 'see it for yourself and you be the judge' but I'm giving it 5 out 10.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST DIRECTOR IN THE WORLD!!
Review: You could pour 500 million dollars in one end of California and wait till the end of the time before something this good came out the other end.Lars Von Trier is a deity of a generation.I will see everything he has ever made before and fear what is to come in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing short of inspirational.
Review: Kicking up a storm at this year's Cannes film festival, 'Dancer in the Dark' (Lars Von Trier's follow up to the even more controversial 'The Idiots') garnered Best Actress for Bjork and the coveted Palme D'Or, despite widely split opinion on the decision committee. At the beginning of the festival most critics dismissed Bjork as 'incapable of acting', a criticism which even Von Trier validated, but with the declaration that she 'has more passion than any other actress'. Finally arriving on our shores, the critics in Cannes seemed to have misunderstood. Correct, Bjork can't act in the traditional sense, but the passion with which she portrays Selma not only passes for a performance but surpasses its requirements, and literally lights up the screen in frame she's in. Bjork is Selma, a Czechoslovakian immigrant in '60s USA, going blind, enduring a workload, unbearable for anyone else, solely, so she can save up for an operation to cure the hereditary blindness she has transferred to her son. Betrayed by her own good nature, her already impoverished existence is worsened when her neighbour, hiding behind a façade of financial security, steals her life savings to replace the inherited wealth which his wife has squandered, forces her to desperate acts. Bjork's performances only suffers through her accent, which is often so varied that it's confusing, but still only rarely distracts from the dialogue. On all other accounts her performance is incredible - warm and passionate, while frail, vulnerable and desperate. She gives her heart and soul to a tremendously difficult role, one that's difficult to imagine anyone else doing. She would probably struggle in a conventional part, but shines in a unique part designed specifically for her. The support performances are also inspiring - especially Peter Stormare as Selma's devoted admirer, Selma's only source of unconditional humanity, a foil for the constant barrage of misfortune she suffers. David Morse is also impressive as the policeman neighbour Bill, cowardly selfish and human. In most other films we would be encouraged to despise Bill, but through Selma's eyes, we experience a mixture of feelings - pity for him and his desperate situation (still a dream compared with Selma's) and disgust at his arrogant self-pity compared to Selma's courage. On paper this shouldn't work - a musical, with real, complex characters, that's also a tragedy. But the magic touch of Von Trier makes this drama totally believable and emotionally turbulent. More than any other film in recent memory, 'Dancer in the Dark' not only imbues in its audience the message that even the worst hardships are bearable through music, but also forces viewers to almost physically experience it: the film's fantasy dance sequences provide relief and allow one to endure the relentless emotional torture of the rest of Selma's story, to emerge moved and uplifted by her selfless sacrifice for her son. The fantasy dance sequences are reminiscent of Bjork's previous music videos, are bright, rich and impressively choreographed. They contrast strongly with 'reality', which is filmed with a hand-held camera, and is dull and bland. One small criticism is that her blindness sometimes slips from one's mind as the many other tragedies of her life dominate. It's a very minor criticism of an otherwise flawless masterpiece. This is easily Von Trier's best film so far. Its cinematic inventiveness, choice of beautiful locations and unpretentious simplicity, along with its stirring music and wonderful dance sequences, make 'Dancer in the Dark' a memorable and unique event in cinema, and a nearly flawless masterpiece. Complex, poignant, moving.
Rating: 
Summary: For Bjork fans, it's perfect.
Review: It reminds me of Herman Melville's story 'Billy Budd.' Like Billy Budd, an innocent sailor with a speech defect, killed a bad sailor accidentally and was sentenced to death, Selma, a poor factory woman suffering from an eye disease, killed a neighbor in order to recapture her money saved for her son's surgery.
Some musical scenes, especially 'Cvalda' and 'I've Seen It All,' are incredibly brilliant (Bjork's songs and Robby Muller's filming skill). But I wonder why Selma had to be put to death by hanging. Why her friends offered nothing for her defense. They only planned to use Selma's money for her defense. I think it's odd. So, in the last scene, I cannot realize her friends' grief.
For Bjork fans, it's perfect. But for movie fans, it leaves a little to be desired.
Rating:
Summary: a very dark and original film
Review: I thought that this movie was so original and would have to say one of the best films I've ever seen.I am 15 and I saw this film with my mother and she could not stop crying after the film.I could tell that most of the cast were foreigners playing americans from their accents.I loved the movie however I am never going to show that film to my mother again!Bjork was brilliant I hope to start seeing her in more things.
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