Dancer in the Dark (2000) - Selmasongs

An acquired taste for the senses

I just finished watching (again) the Palme d'Or winner at the 2000 Cannes, Dancer in the Dark by Danish Dogme director Lars Von Trier. This was the third film in von Trier's "Golden Heart Trilogy"; the other two films being Breaking the Waves (1996) and The Idiots (1998).

Dancer in the Dark is a powerful fable of a blind woman sacrificing her life for her son, and the experience of this movie may be traumatic. Astonishingly heartbreaking and extremely thought-provoking (depending on how you interpret this movie), the theme of Dancer in the Dark is using the ability to fantasize to overcome the suffering in reality. 

This Danish musical drama is almost like a weird documentary with crime-tinged undertones, a hauntingly good soundtrack and beautifully shot with handheld video cameras. As the main character, Icelandic popstress Bjork is Selma, a naive, goodhearted mother who is going blind from a congenital disorder and working in a factory to save money to rescue her son from the same fate. After multiple misfortunes, to say the least, Selma suffers a devastating consequence brought upon by her own trust and naivete.

In her darkest moments, Selma copes by imagining her dismal surroundings to be the setting for a grand musical. To her ears, the machinery in the factory where she works becomes a symphony, and workmen dance with brooms with the grace of Fred Astaire. Men lift up women in leg splits as bells chime, and day-to-day activities are choreographed as if the world is perfect, and we exist to sing jubilantly in praise of it. Instead of her grim murder trial, Selma imagines the courtroom as her grand finale, with friends there to catch her should she fall. 

Bjork is a stand out in this movie and fully justifies the many accolades and awards she received for this film. An esoteric movie this is, the second time viewing was an insightful and refreshing experience! And those interested in the fantastic soundtrack, must checkout Bjork's Selmasongs shared below!

Généalogies d'un crime (1997) / Genealogies of a Crime

A whimsical and surreal piece of french cinema

Feeling more like a vintage restoration than an original film, this crime drama by the maverick Chilean director Raoul Ruiz (1941–2011) stars Catherine Deneuve in a dual role of a psychologist and an attorney, both caught in a web of crime and deception. 

The movie has a lot going for it: wittiness, precision, and latent wisdom within the script; captivating cinematography; and well seasoned actors. Yet, somehow it falls flat, making the end result less than thrilling (and possibly alienate a few viewers too).

The film begins with a Chinese ghost story about a young man predestined to kill a girl who then, inconveniently, falls in love with his vengeful ghost. Deneuve plays the young Rene's (Melvil Poupaud) psychiatrist aunt. She makes Rene her patient and is later murdered. Next, we see Deneuve as Rene's attorney. She investigates the crime and in the process, becomes enamored with Rene and discovers the many characters involved with the aunt's murder, including a wickedly funny Michel Piccoli as fellow psychiatrist Georges Didier. 

If the viewer believes the narrator, the murder was a perverse version of a therapy session. But Ruiz has no interest in giving the audience any real clues. None of the characters seems less than conniving and duplicitous. This makes for some interesting and witty banter especially between Didier (Piccoli) and his nemesis (Andrzej Seweryn).

The dual climactic sequences within the movie leave the viewer drained before its the eventual conclusion. Still, the presence of Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli, two of Frances greatest actors, a clever- actually way too clever-plot, and alluring cinematography of Paris make this a film that rewards the intelligent filmgoer.

The Raid: Redemption / Serbuan Maut (2011)

JohnnyTwoToes tells you why this Indonesian Import is a Must Watch for all Action Fans!

The Raid: Redemption (original Title: Serbuan Maut)  is a slam bang action thriller from Indonesia that came and went in America, despite mostly positive reviews, with the exception of Roger Ebert who only gave it one star. He complained because the film did not seem to make much sense in spite of the great action scenes. 

The film, shot entirely in Indonesia (according to IMDB) takes place for almost the full 101 minutes in a decrepit, drug infested high-rise that houses a ruthless drug dealer and his army of thugs. The film opens with a lone cop readying himself for the day the raid will take place. In the truck to the raid, the instructions are relayed to the SWAT team and upon arrival everything goes according to plan.....initially. Then all hell breaks loose, chaos ensues and thus begins the action. 

The Raid: Redemption was written and directed by Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans and he has penned enough of a story behind the action that the action has purpose. It is not just action for action's sake. As the team goes from floor to floor there are amazing shootouts and as the casualties rise on both sides the action changes from firearms to hand to hand and both are impressively choreographed and will have you on the edge of your seat. Evans smartly keeps closing the space that the fighting takes place as it happens from room to room, and there are a few surprises along the way. 

There is a newcomer named Iko Uwais who plays the hero cop, Rama and I was particularly impressed by the humanity he brings to his character. He is a family man, expecting his first child, yet he is willing to go the distance by himself if need be to get the bad guy. Hopefully we will be seeing more of this fine actor. 

The film has some interesting choices for the score. I was reading up on the history of making this film and my understanding is that here were actually two scores composed by different composers. The Indonesian release had one score and the western release for Europe and America had a different score composed. Having only heard the version in the American version released, I was impressed by the array of instrumentation used; from hard synth/techno to ethnic instruments of Indonesia and Asia. It accents the action and humanizes the quieter moments. 

The Raid: Redemption is nothing ground breaking in its drama just enough, but the action is dazzlingly effective and loads of fun, even though I still don't know what the "Redemption" was. While The Raid is not Shakespeare, it is not marketed as such. It is a balls to the wall action film and a real good one, too. The Raid: Redemption is available on DVD. The Raid: Redemption-*** out of 4.

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Dværgen - The Sinful Dwarf (1973)

Jake Speed revisit's the demented sexploitation English flick from 70s Denmark!

"What was the terrifying secret of the attic?" The Sinful Dwarf's tagline asks in a panic. Oddly, the secret of the attic isn't a secret at all: an ex-nightclub singer and a not-very-charismatic midget who's fond of toys own a London boarding house that's actually a front for a sort of bordello in the attic. Only the women aren't prostitutes; they're captives. On of them receives a steady supply of heroin but the other three are kept from escaping only by a curious sort of languid docility -Zorben the Dwarf is a far-from-fastidious jailer and yet not once is a break made for the attic door he frequently leaves open and unattended.  

A pair of likable newlyweds comes to stay at the boarding house while the husband, an aspiring writer, looks for a job. The wife claims to hear noises from the attic and comments about the parade of people marching in and out of it all day, but the husband dismisses her concerns as childish. When he's called out of town for an interview she goes to the attic to find out what's going on - foolish girl - and is promptly taken captive. 

The nightclub singer and her impish sidekick forge a "Dear John" letter for the husband and when he returns they tell him his wife left him. Eventually, though, the husband learns about Zorben and the singer's drug connection and he puts two and two together. A quick call to the cops lowers the boom on the villainous duo. Husband and wife reunite, through the latter - having had to turn an unconsensual trick during her stay in the attic - is substantially worse for wear. Isn't it funny how the really screwed up movies all have happy endings? 

It's a shame this movie's so screwed up because otherwise, it's not that bad. The title sequence kicks ass, the newlywed couple is genuinely sympathetic, the nightclub singer and the sinful dwarf inspire loathing in a manner appropriate for horror movie antagonists. The director must have just gotten through a unit on match-cuts in his intro-to-film class, because The Sinful Dwarf sports a lot of them, and some of them are pretty clever. When the husband overhears the dwarf harassing his dealer for more goodies, for instance, the husband looks at a toy police car and there's a cut to a radio-car beacon barreling down the road - a match used to externalize the husband's line of thought. All right, so it ain't the shot through the Copa Cabana's skylight, but it does reflect a formal vocabulary much broader than is generally the case with 60s and 70s nudie movies.*

There are also some passable cross-cuts between the nightclub singer's act (she performs pathetically for a drunken, solitary friend to bring back the good ole days) and the screams of one of the attic-dwellers, and the theme of the dwarf's toys is played pretty well throughout. 

This would make for a good movie (tolerably interesting, anyway) if it weren't for the attic sequences themselves, which, through phony as hell, are incredibly unpleasant to watch. Part of the reason these sequences are so unnerving is that most of the sex scenes are set in the attic (it is a nudie, aftter all) so that the lingering camera gives the impression that rape, torture, drug addiction and captivity are supposed to be sexually exciting. Not that they aren't to some, but if the movie meant to imply this, it might as well have made the dwarf the good guy. On the other hand, if The Sinful Dwarf is so disturbing and irredeemable, I wonder why I can't seem to stop talking about it...

*More in keeping with the genre is the movie's handling of the wife's decision to call the police earlier on -- done by having her say out loud, to herself, "I've got to call the police; I've got to call them right now." Talk about applying the hint with a sledgehammer. 

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