Lars von Trier has a number of films where he’s being transparently emotionally manipulative. I liked the Kingdom. I liked Melancholia, I liked Zentropa. Three films that toned down that impulse. But Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves were exhausting.
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I would say The Five Obstructions is a decent film, but it should be pointed out that while Trier is making the rules, the film is mostly about Jorgen Leth and his process.
Still an asshole, though.
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I’ve seen that, and again I was like, just what is the point of this guy’s making life difficult for someone else? Oh yeah, the cruelty, that’s it. As we say about Republican assholes i guess, The cruelty is the point. Ugh.
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Don’t know the guy but I would side on calling him a 'shit stirrer rather than elevating him to ‘provocateur’ (a wanky word in a wanky discourse)
I loved the film “The Idiots”
I think ‘critique’ and ‘understand context’ would be better than “appreciate” re artists.
But hey, sometimes a shit stain is a shit stain.
In the 2000s, when I was in my 20s, he was one of my favorites. But the ways I’ve grown since then, and the ways he’s revealed a lack of growth since then have completely destroyed any interest I had in this creep’s work.
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I saw some of how the guy was when he was in Bayreuth to direct Wagner’s Ring cycle. He’s not really all that complex, he’s just a jerk who loves trolling people. Even sitting at a cafe, he would be a jerk to gain attention.
He comes across as someone who does scandalous stuff simply to get moneyattention, not because he believes in what he’s trying to say.
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Breaking the Waves was the last one I watched. I loved The Element of Crime and Europa, but BtW was just no. And I am NEVER going to watch a movie plot be cruel to Bjork. Everything since sounds like audience torture. Fuck Lars.
You know, it’s Wes Anderson and John Woo’s birthday today, let’s talk about them instead!
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The musical scenes are great-- but, of course, Bjork’s character is doomed.
The naive reader sometimes asks why a fictional character in a book acts in a certain way-- and the answer almost always comes down to serving the needs of a plot. In Dancer, Trier railroads Selma towards her doom, because that is how Trier will achieve a certain emotional effect in his audience.
If the intent is deconstruct the melodrama, I think I prefer Todd Haynes.
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Yeah, happy birthday, asshole. Now fuck off.
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Hear, hear!
An apt pair, actually, as Anderson shows us you can be stylish without being exploitative and Woo that you can show violence without being gratuitously cruel.
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Also Barry Gibbs’ dog’s birthday, which gave us this.
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you could say that…
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