Dancer in The Dark
Joe's Preview Review:
Songstress Bjork does film. I'm interested. Lars Von Trier directing, more interested. Palme D'Or at Cannes, count me in.
Joe's Film Review:
I remember going to see The Blair Witch Project and coming out
feeling sick, sad, and unfullfilled. I felt sick
from that shaking camera, I felt sad that I paid to see the
movie, and I felt unfullfilled because this movie had be
touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread but it sucked.
With Dancer in the Dark I felt sick form that same kind of
constantly moving camera and editing style but all similarities
end there.
Dancer in the Dark is an emotionally harsh film that completely
fulfills all expectations set for it by it's victory of Palme D'Or
(the equivalent to Best Picture) at the most important film festival in
the world. Plus a mostly French audience voted for an English movie as Best Film, there's a miracle.
One of the world's most unique and wide ranging figures,
Icelandic pop diva Bjork, stars as a Czech immigrant named Selma
who has a genealogic disorder that is causing her to lose her sight early in their life. She has come to America hoping to stop this disorder in her son by getting him a necessary operation.
To support Bjork, there is an amazing ensemble cast that
provide a plethora of excellent performances. David Morse
plays Bjork's caring landlord, Catherine Deneuve is her
supporting and comforting best friend, and Peter Stormare is a
guy that is completely in love her and whose love is
unrequited. Morse and Stormare are very popular supporting
actors in Hollywood. Morse has been the tough cop in The
Negotiator and Jodie Foster's dad in Contact. Peter
Stormare,
one of my personal favorite actors, can be credited with
the other kidnapper in Fargo along with Steve Buscemi,
the Slippery Pete role in the classic Frogger "Seinfeld"
episode, a German nihilist in The Big Lebowski, and the
Russian astronaut in Armageddon.
No matter how great the appetizers are, it's the main dish
that counts. Bjork should be the frontrunner for the Best Actress
statuette but she will never be rewarded to her pronounced hatred for
acting (she said she never wants to be in a film
ever again after this experience with Lars Von Trier), her
not being a true actress, and she's not a Hollywood insider. Her
performance as the constantly-smiling-through-some-of-the-
worst-conditions-a-person-could-live-in Selma is
inspirational and moving. Bjork's Selma is far superior
than Madonna doing Evita.
Selma's a true dreamer; she's like a little child in a tough
adult position of raising a child on her own, in a foreign
country, and going blind. It's the most original character
but Bjork makes the most out of it and the presentation of a
pure drama in musical form. In the middle of a near death
experience, Selma will break into a song. She's in an abusive
fairytale. This figurehead of innocence is in another kind of
reality. Selma's daydreaming in what any other person would
consider hell.
Clocking in at well over 2 hours, this ultimate musical is
truly grueling on your emotions. The editing techniques are
abusive on the stomach. Bjork has duets with the three
previous mentioned co-stars which could be considered
grueling on the ears. And by the time, Bjork is on trial you
feel her pain. She is being punished for being good, true to
herself, honest. The harshness of truth is displayed in real
way; it's not always rewarded.
Dancer in the Dark is a beautifully nauseating masterpiece
showcasing the (uniqueness) of Bjork. She is the perfect
for this role, the only woman who could do it true
justice. Her smile can warm any place even the most
depressing, and her voice atones the ears. On a side note,
she makes factory sound like a curse word. Her natural
talent and ability take music which is usually kept in the
background, and move it to the forefront while perfectly
integrating it into the movie to make a unique visual
and auditorial feast. It's truly too bad Bjork has sworn off
movies, partially because of the film's brilliant but
eccentric director Lars Von Trier, because she is one actress
I would pay just to see.
The songs are great, the style is perspicacious, and the
originality of the methods are galvanizing. Although not for
the weak stomached, I would recommend this movie as one of
the best dramatic film's of the year. All hail Bjork!
Rating: 4 out of 4
Running Time: 140 minutes
Rated R for some violence
Starring: Bjork, Peter Stormare, David Morse, Catherine Deneuve,
and Stellan Skarsgard
Written and Directed by: Lars Von Trier (Breaking The Waves, The
Idiots)
