Genres

Visitors Review

chshell 2012-05-25 03:58:06

A dubious intellectual curiosity.

A piece of Art? Maybe, but I'd rather go to the theatre. The underlyingstory is packed with drama but the movie itself lacks impact until theveryend. The dialogue is often insipid, the narration didactic and hectoringasthough the the writer/director wanted to be the star of the show as wellasits creator. Only Nicole Kidman's outstanding performance kept me awakeforthe entire (nearly) three hours.Anti-American? Had Dogville been set in (say)a Turkish village (or had allthe characters been Jewish) the director would have been run out town bythesame people who heaped praise on him. I'm not an American, nor have I everbeen, but there seems to have been no reason to set this story explicitlyinAmerica (especially since Lars von Trier has never been there and has nospecial knowledge of the place) other than to imply that American peopleareintrinsically more corrupt than the rest of us. Not a noble aim for anartist.

HunterDK 2012-05-24 16:24:03

A successful experiment

Today I watched Dogville in a Danish cinema, but I did not know what toexpect before I went to the cinema.I was aware of the way the town was build with the chalk lines, and I wasvery sceptical. I am not a big Lars von Trier-fan, even though I have seenseveral of his works like Riget (The Kingdom) and Idioterne.The whole town was one big scene, where chalk lines marked the houses, andthe furniture in the buildings is there for a reason. Things which are notimportant for the movie have been let out, so the audience do not getdistracted and focus on the wrong things. It is a bit hard in the beginningto watch people opening doors which are not there, but you get used to itafter about a half to one hour.When you only have one big scene, then the acting is very important to keepthe movie going, and the acting is really superb. I cannot say anything badabout the acting, all the actors really did a great job. Most noticeable isof course the acting by Nicole Kidman, but there are also a lot of reallyexperienced actors like James Caan, Philip Baker Hall and Lauren Bacall. Therest of the cast are also really good actors, I would like to give them allsome credit.Visually it is also a successful movie, it is really a great view, when youare watching the town from the overview camera. There are also differenttimes of the year, and you can see from the environment what time of theyear it is, once more a point where the movie has beensuccessful.Those were the positive things, there are also some negative things aboutthis movie. I have to admit that the movie was maybe a bit too long, therewere some periods where I felt that nothing really happened. The movie alsofailed to make me feel real bad or sad, I just sat and watched the crueltywithout being touched that much, some more music might have helped theatmosphere.One of the things the movie has been criticized for is that it was an attackagainst USA. I am not anti-American, and I still did enjoy watching thelives of the people in the streets. Lars von Trier will surely try to sendsome messages with this movie, and I think it is healthy - you have thechoice to agree or disagree.Dogville was an interesting intellectual movie, and it makes you think aboutseveral things. I would like to recommend it, but I do not see it as amaster piece, so I will give it 7/10.

2012-05-24 12:54:30

Boring Boring Boring

What a boring movie!!! Very slow paced. if you turn the subtitles on you can watch the entire thing in 2X without missing a thing. This was low budget boring film. I would not waste my time.

moviesinparis 2012-05-24 00:39:23

Irresponsible Ending

This film is style over substance and only midly amusing if one ignoresthemisogyny.But the closing credits, using those real photos with that David Bowiesong, were pureexploitation. I have no problem with cinematic attacks on US politics,butwhy go afterthe poor, as if they had a say in US policy? Lars von Trier should watchthe documentarySTRANGER WITH A CAMERA (by Elizabeth Barrett) before he makes anotherhorriblemistake.

NovocaineOfArabia 2012-05-22 22:11:31

what a senseless waste of time

I found it so amazingly awful I don't know where to start. It's a verybad movie, meaningless, quite ridiculous now and then, empty, but whatirritates me so is that it is disguised as an "intellectual" Europeanmovie. Von Trier obviously thinks good European movies have/areexpected to be static (incredibly long and boring *150min.), essential,betting all on dialogs. if only dialogs made sense! He wants to make usbelieve he's actually saying something but he's NOT. It's the worstscreenplay I've ever seen. He shouldn't write his own movies, actuallyhe shouldn't direct them neither. What are Lauren Bacall, John Hurt,Nicole Kidman, James Caan doing there??? I don't understand how hemanged to fool so many people (and many critics, especially at Cannes)pretending to make art. This is a masquerade, a pure imitation of goodcinema (and not even a good one I can tell you), a empty box. Don'twaste time on this ...., watch a good, healthy, poetic Ingmar Bergmanmovie. Or Bresson. That is art.

2012-05-22 05:31:10

People are the same everywhere

I can't decide whether it's a masterpiece or a rather pretentious soap box speech. Either way it's most definitely a raw, but intriguing look at human nature, capitalism, the United States, the world and all it's good and bad. It's both unnerving and touching, we wish to turn away, but are pulled back in at the same time because of an intellectual and polarizing look at humanity. This is a bold film that has to be congratulated on those merits. Theatrical and fresh, whether you like or hate it (both of which I can so vividly understand).The film's setting of a small depression-era Colorado town Dogville is showcased on a single large set. Houses and landmarks are simply chalk lines on the floor accessorized by a few pieces of furniture and props. The open, single set allows the camera to zoom in and swoop wherever it pleases, taking us right into the story. Nothing is hidden in Dogville, at least from us. It forces us to concentrate on the terrific cast who are forced to tell us the story almost entirely by themselves. They're up to the challenge. There is no getting around, though, that the dissection of humanity here is scathingly true and that we want to turn away from the discussions the film has that tend to line up with our own lives, feelings, judgments, and, well, humanity and nature. The lack of walls gives us the ultimate "if walls could talk" look into the worlds that we can see all while our characters can see one, ignorant to the horrors we can so plainly see. We can no longer hide behind our walls and claim ignorance to the horrors of the world we don't want to accept as real. Nicole Kidman is fantastic, she'll get uncountable award nominations that are well deserved. She is Grace, a mystery woman on the run from gangsters who ends up in Dogville and is taken in by Tom (Paul Bettany) who falls for her face and charm. He soon convinces the residents to let her win their favor, which she does. Her frailty too is evident to those other than Tom, and they unlike he are readily willing to exploit her by hanging the fact that she is a threat to them. The duality of power and those who have it plays out throughout the film and takes a striking twist at the end that provides a shocking, provocative and proper ending of the film and it's themes. The claim of anti-Americanism are only for those pre-disposed to dislike the movie, despite the fact that the film does take stabs and capitalism and probably America by default because of it's universal representation of it to the world. Lars von Tier's puzzling relationship with the country he won't visit leads one to look for things that are much more universal in nature

Frédéric Larsen 2012-05-20 20:21:21

Too interesting

At first sight: Interesting. After a while: Annoying.In the end: Depressing.If this movie had been made the exact same way by any other director thanLars Von Trier, it wouldn't have gotten good reviews. But who knows, maybeI'll like it in 20-30 years, lying on my deathbed.I shake the magic eight ball: It is decidedly so.

TheHeartAsksPleasureFirst 2012-05-20 05:20:11

A Disturbing Sense of Illustration

"Dogville" is, along with Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures", one ofthe most disturbing film experiences I've ever had. Love it or hate it,it's impossible to be indifferent about this overwhelming film writtenand directed by Lars von Trier.This is the first part of a trilogy ironically entitled "USA: Land ofOpportunities" ("Manderlay" is the second, "Wasington" will be thethird). "Dogville" begins with a prologue and extends to nine chaptersin almost three hours of daring, exquisite film-making.Nicole Kidman gives the performance of her career, in my opinion.Forget her (great) portrayal of Virginia Woolf in "The Hours", and theambitious Suzanne Stone ("To Die For"): Kidman's most accomplishedcomposition to date is Grace. She's a beautiful young American who,apparently on the run from gangsters, hides herself in a small Coloradotown called Dogville, helped by Tom (Paul Bettany) and the otherresidents. Things go fine for some time until Dogville's folks begin toexploit the lovely Grace and, literally, chain her up like a dog.You'll better appreciate the film if you don't know too many details(and even if you do, Von Trier reserved us lots of bitter surprises).We could say briefly that this is a film about those people you lend ahand and want to take your arm, but "Dogville" is too sharp andintelligent to be summed up this way. Many people accused Lars vonTrier of criticizing the American arrogance violently. That's true, butthe fact is that "Dogville" is a universal story: it could happenanywhere. Human beings are really this bad?, we wonder by the end."Dogville" wasn't made to make you feel good, but it's a compulsoryfilm for everybody."Dogville" is a much better work than "Dancer in the Dark", Von Trier'sprevious film which gave him the Golden Palm at Cannes, and provesdefinitely he's one of the greatest filmmakers nowadays. He led hisensemble cast wonderfully, and all of them are superb (that's nosurprise, however, regarding Kidman, Ben Gazzara, Lauren Bacall, JamesCaan, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Jeremy Davies,Patricia Clarkson, Harriet Andersson, Udo Kier, Zeljko Ivanek andPhilip Baker Hall, among others – honourable mention to John Hurt'sexcellent, ironic narration). 10/10.P.S.: You'll never forget David Bowie singing "Young Americans" afterseeing this film.

Ricardo-14 2012-05-20 02:23:26

It's so easy to talk about human trash!

What we have here is not a film, cause there's no photography andthere's no art direction. We pass 3 long hours attending to an amateurvideo of a stage play. And if not for the actors, who are actually verygood, we should have a childish school play, including cement mountainsand invisible doors with their "very creative" knock-knock-knocks.The first third of the "film" lead us to a kind of a businessadministration training video on group theory or sort of. And the restis a social degeneration of human trash parade. And if you're lookingfor this subject, just turn on the television at Chechenia or Bagdad orPalestine news. They are so common as this "film".It's not a case of lack of spirit. It's just poverty of spirit. And todeal with that, or to write up a screenplay , or to shoot a movie likethis is so easy as destructing. Leave it for whom might not constructfilms like Shining, Kolya or Bigfish, only to mention 3 I just rememberfor now.

vsy 2012-05-19 12:48:26

Overrated, presumptuous, anachronistic

Despite all the hype about Dogville, viewers beware that this movie is thesum of the hallucinatory ramblings of a director who thinks he is God. Iseriously think that it adds nothing new to cinematographic vision (SeeStraub-Huillet's America adapted from Kafka), it is presumptuous in itsrendering of the so-called American society in the 30s, it reducedfilmmaking to a cheap theatrical version of a play (If anyone wants to seereal film/theater, should see some of the far superior French nouvellevaguefilms). I do not know what made Kidman, though acting brilliantly, chosetherole. I hope to think that she was ill-advised by her europhile friends.Anyhow the fact that she decline to do the two other films in the trilogyisa sign of her sanity.

jportwood3 2012-05-18 07:18:47

Our town is not this town

I walked into the film not knowing anything other than a recommendationfroma Catalan friend. Immediately I was shocked by the "Our Town"-like set,nowalls, chalked outlines of buildings, miming opening doors, etc.I heard a sigh from my friend and thought, we're not going to make itthrough this film are we?But as we progressed we were drawn in by Nicole Kidman's mesmerizingperformance. I agree with other critics in the fact that if it weren'tforher performance, we couldn't have handled this heavy monologue (andnarrated) film.I felt at moments I was watching a Hawthorne morality story (a la "TheScarlet Letter") mixed with a Marquez magical realism short story ("AVeryOld Man With Enormous Wings"). The camera work was inspiring, especiallyscenes when we were suddenly given true omniscient narrator viewpointfromabove.By the time the end of the movie neared the end (which you are preparedforby the "chapter" titles) I was enthralled. But then Von Trier spoils hisuniversal message about human frailty and wickedness with the closingcreditstill shots of Americans from the 1930s and Bowie's "Young Americans."His "politics" seem to be worn on his sleeve and taking a cheap shot at"America" when anti-American sentiments are running high seems a bitweak. Irather liked the idea that the romanticizing of "poor" people and"simple,""salt of the earth" folk is a fallacy instead of learning that he justhadit in for a country on whose soil he's never even ventured tostep.

domadilla 2012-05-18 03:45:48

The human soul bares its teeth and exclaims, "woof woof"!

WOW what an amazing film...I've just finished watching Dogville for the first time. I have to saythat is the most shocking film I have seen in my lifetime. ConsideringI watched 'Oldboy' merely a week ago that is saying A lot. This filmwasn't graphically gut-wrenching, but it's the actions of thecharacters and the finale of the film that really made me think.The film is shot entirely on one 'stage' and has sporadic narration.Some people may find this theatre-like atmosphere off-putting, but Ithink this is an ingenious, not to mention unique, idea. The point ofhaving the whole film shot on this one stage is that it helps toillustrate how close-knit a community Dogville is. There are no wallson the set only props, it's as if the film is baring its heart and soul(the characters) to the audience. All i can say is patience is avirtue, so if you can sit through the first few scenes and get used tothis 'universal stage' idea the story will soon engulf you andcompulsion to watch the whole 9 chapters is certain (not sure if thereis a relevance in the number 9).The basic plot (no spoilers): Tom is an aspiringintellectual/philosopher, he daydreams about morales and the ideals ofright and wrong one day hoping write a successful paper on this. He isfed up with the narrow-minded people of Dogville, accusing them ofnon-acceptance in regards to outsiders and the world in general. WhenNicole Kidman's character Grace stumbles upon Dogville by chance, Tomsees this as an opportunity to test the town's people. Grace takes upresidence in Dogville and the story takes flight....The cast is absolutely superb, Nicole Kidman puts in a first-rateperformance. I think all the actors and actresses really got to gripswith their roles and this makes the film all the more special. I wouldrecommend this film to anyone who likes a gripping, meaningful story aswell as a shock or two. This film is simply enthralling. 9/10 from me.

2012-05-14 02:54:25

Revelatory

I believe the general consensus towards this movie is very divisive. I've read very favourable reviews, as well as reviews which were harsh, to the point of making ad hominen attacks on the director. For myself, I was absolutely impressed by the movie on my first viewing about a year ago. I decided to get the DVD and watch it a second time, thinking that my views on the movie might change. They did not. I still consider the movie to be brilliant, revelatory and thought-provoking.

Skalle Per 2012-05-13 07:17:40

Similar painfull watching as Lord of the Flies

With a similar emotional impact as Lord of the Flies, von Trier takes it astep further. He does not attribute his metaphoric story to children, butlets it play among adults, adults in a society. He applies the societalproblem on an already existing society and makes it impossible for theviewer not to cast at least some form of reflection on their ownsurrounding.From time to time, the movie was predictable and somewhat over-obvious inthe onstage plot. Never the less, an important movie. It does notmoralize,it does not provide a solution. Hence the beauty of the story. The finalchapter gives the plot it's true twist, and here the viewer is forced toconfront the dilemma of the characters. Forced. The viewer will passjudgement. Not von Trier. (And despite previous partial predictabilitiesinthe movie the development was the contrary).

torsport 2012-05-11 05:30:52

N.A.

I was just at the first showing of Dogville in North America at the T.O.film fest. Lars of course didn't show cause of his fear of flying. Themovieis very interesting and very Lars. Shot without location or sets and heavywith narration Dogville is a truly unique approach to film making. Thefilmwas superbly acted and shot and evokes the anger and discomfort typicallyassociated with Lars' work. I don't think it's going to be too popularwithHollywood though the Dogvilles of all Dogvilles. Very interestingcommentaryon North American values. I highly recommend it for two reasons: 1 it'struly rare to witness true originality in film and 2 it is actually a verygood movie. See the movie with a friend and spend the next few weeksarguingabout morality, film making and the film industry.

Noel 2012-05-10 13:43:22

An incredibly important film.

If you don't already know, the interesting thing about Dogville is thatthere are no real sets. It all takes place in a theatre where the individualhouses in the village of marked out with chalk and labelled, and there areeven boxes with "Dog" or "Gooseberry Bushes" written on them -- the onlythings that appear are generally props which are actually used in the film.From a practical, film-making point of view this means that von Trier canshow whats going on in all the houses at any time, and also he can show thewhole town and all the people from overhead, as if some great god waslooking down on them, which is a device he uses severaltimes.Many people presume that Von Trier was attempting to make the film somethinglike a play, but I definitely felt that he is more blurring the line betweena film and a book. Tarantino attempted the same thing with "Kill Bill", butnot to this visionary extent. This film is also divided into chapters, buthe takes it further by including summaries of the events as a novelistmight, and it also has a narrative throughout that sounds an awful lot likewriting from a literary novel. The fact that there are no sets also makes ita lot like reading a book, in that you have to use your imagination. If awriter failed to describe the buildings of a town in a book, yourimagination might conjure up something that looks likeDogville.What I'm trying to explain is that I feel this is something more than just aclever gimmick, it is a device of some importance and hopefully otherartists will take inspiration from von Trier's vision. But this is notsomething inherent in the writing of the film -- it could just as easilyhave been filmed in a conventional way, with actual sets and all, and itstill would have been worth watching.And so, onto the film itself. It is a heavily philosophical piece of work,and the writing and the dialogue is very strong throughout. I felt somewhatlet down by the ending, but I won't give too much away there. This is not aneasy film to watch, but hardly anything that is shown is gratituous -- vonTrier doesn't linger on anything, in fact, for longer than is necessary. Italso seems that the fact that the actors have to use their imagination morethan usual has definitely brought out the best in them. The two leads,Kidman and Bettany, are both excellent in their roles, as is the entiresupporting cast.It's a film you should see if you're interesting in it as a form of art, andI'm sure in time it'll be shown on pretty much any self-respecting filmcourse. As far as people who watch films solely for entertainment go, I'mnot sure how much you'll like it. Not because there are no sets, as youpractically forget this after about an hour has gone in the same way youimagine what isn't there when watching a stageplay, but because of theharshness of the story itself. I only hope that it can be appreciated, andthat a general audience of Nicole Kidman fans when it's released in UStheatres doesn't reduce the film's rating too much.

andrea 2012-05-09 09:02:08

film, theatre, dogma, Lars is confused

I cannot truly say that I liked or disliked the film. Lars Von Triersurprises us once again. At least no one is singing or dancing this time.The fact is that I don't think this is a film. It's a theatre piece. It'slike going to a theatre and recording the scenes one after the other.Everything is left to the imagination but is that a film? Nicole Kidman isas poor and vague and detached as usual and maybe she just went to Sweden onholidays to ski, who knows. On the contrary, Ben Gazzarra, Lauren Bacall,James Caan and rest of the crew seem to do the minimum but with such astrong charisma that one can endure the experience of watching the story asit unfolds. Actually, the story is pretty ordinary and very dry, almost anin-between 'early Lars' and 'Dogma Lars'. Not sure.... And also, why wouldanyone want to watch that again? Give me Tarkovskij any day pleaseLars!

scotti2hotti 2012-05-08 20:27:34

Woof Woof!!

The title of this film is so ironically apt. Dogville is exactly that, adog of a film that should have been put out of it's misery long before iteven made it to a cinema screen. Not even Nicole Kidman immersed in abottle of Meryl Streep Versatility can save this lazy, dull, ugly bore of afilm. This is one big Poochie. Lars you have to go now, your planet needsyou!

2012-05-06 19:13:08

Profoundly Pro Human

Its not too often that this happens while wallowing through the quamire that is the product of the movie industry, that a little gem is discovered. This movie is longer than most but in the process of excavating the mountains of garbage that one normally has to burrow through to find something that says something important, it shines out glissening from the mud.The anti-American accusations are simply interesting and that is all. This is quite a normal response indeed to a fictious account of humans excoriating their souls for the purpose of self preservation as Americans do. But isn't the US village simply analogous of the rest of our brutal world? Americans do not have a monopoly on the bad human behavior depicted in Dogville. Humanity, just as individuals, are equally as pathetic as America, no more, no less and this incredibly articulate movie, brilliantly describes our sad condition so perfectly. And because it does this, it is warning us of our future imperatives and even informing our evolution. For this reason, it is profoundly pro human.Many have talked about the technical and artistic attributes of this movie and so I have nothing to say about this except everyone involved in this piece of art has contributed to a cinematographic experience that I and others have not had for some time and will remember forever.Thank You, Mark Cross, NIUE Is

paola savoia 2012-05-06 14:42:49

No future

I've seen Dancer in the Dark and did not like it so when I rented thismovieI wasn't expecting a masterpiece but I have to admit that I've found itquite good.I liked all the actors and I suggest to watch it right to the end wherethere is a display of black and white photos probably taken during the BigDepression years.Dogville reminds me of a greek tragedy where in the end there is no otheroption but the one chosen by Grace.It's painful to accept it but we are bound to this.... better faceit.There is no future and redemption.