A Danish drama directed by Thomas Vinterberg, starring Ulrich Thomsen and Trine Dyrholm.
An old man is celebrating his birthday and lots of relatives show up for the party. During dinner, one of the man's sons stands up and announces that he was sexually abused by his father.
This is clearly what the whole Dogma/Dogme 95 movement was supposed to be about. This is the first Dogme film, but I have watched others. They are all aiming for very realistic drama that looks like someone had a camera with them during the events of the film. The plot held my attention and I could hear the dialogue because there was no non-diegetic music or foley sound effects. Most of the dialogue was in Danish, with English subtitles. Only a few parts were spoken in English and those had no subtitles. Obviously, the camera-work was not quite to my liking. I would have allowed the use of tripods if I wrote the Dogma 95 movement's "Vow of Chastity". I rate this good as an example of an important film movement. It's better than adequate, but not as good as Idioterne (1998).
A Danish romance directed by Lone Scherfig.
A group of men and women whose family members have died are taking a class in Italian language together. Sisters are reunited and 3 pairs are formed.
This was surprisingly good for Dogma 95. It started with tragic losses and despair, but ended in romance. I say that's the way to make a romance movie, There has to be some contrast so that the happy ending will satisfy people who like variety in films. The plot held my attention enough to not notice the shitty camerawork so much.I knew it was there, but cared more about the plot and characters than whether a tripod was being used. Based upon being a genre I don't like and intentionally lower production, but liking it anyway, I have to rate this good. I would recommend it for anyone who likes drama films with emphasis on plot and characters.
A Danish crime film noir directed by Lars von Trier, starring Michael Elphick.
A detective is hypnotized and tells a story to the therapist. He was trying to solve a series of murders by following his mentor's advice and following the path of the killer.
All red video is difficult to rate with a different colored review. The plot and characters would have been more interesting if the visual aspect had not hurt my eyes so badly. The camera-work would have looked good in any other color scheme. Wikipedia says that it was shot in sodium lights. This won lots of awards, but I don't see why (pun). I rate it the most frequent color on screen: a red, bad rating. There are much better (not horrible) Lars von Trier films to watch instead of this.
A Danish French Italian Netherlands Spanish Swedish comedy drama directed by Lars von Trier, starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Dogme #2 and second film in Lars von Trier's Golden Heart Trilogy.
A group of people pretend to be mentally disabled until one of them freaks out for real and another is taken away by a family member.
Amazing! I was laughing through the whole first hour. I know it's currently not politically correct to make fun of retards. In this film, everyone there would have been in on the plan though, so it became more of a situation making fun of people making fun of retards, which makes it o.k., right? There was nudity, sex and foul language. Being Dogme #2, it was saturated in Dogma 95 style. Seeing as this style is documented better elsewhere, I don't feel the need to explain it. The plot began hilariously. I realized the joke at 0:5:00, began laughing at around 0:7:30 and didn't stop until 1:15:47. The characters fit very well because the "leader" was kind of an egomaniac with an assorted group around him. If we can call Karen the main character, she fit her role very well too. I can't wait to watch Dancer in the Dark (2000) and may recommend these films as a series to those who don't mind reading subtitles to see better movies. I rate this best. Watch it!
A British Danish French German crime drama directed by Thomas Vinterberg, written by Lars von Trier, starring Bill Pullman.
A group of young people take an interest in guns and marksmanship which gives them confidence that they were lacking. A new member is added, who has had a long and unspoken rivalry with the main character. The new member had been in trouble with the law involving guns and his grandmother was a maid for the main character's parents. Because the old woman is afraid of gangs and hesitates to visit a neighbor, the group escort her on the proposed 2 minute walk.
I haven't mentioned style in a long time, but this has it. when good writing, acting, shooting and editing come together, good style is the results in a product which equals more than the sum of its parts. The plot held my attention and I would say the main characters were dynamic. Pacing felt right (why not bring back another term?). Lots of the camera-work was Dogme 95 style, with lots of handheld long takes. The costumes of the main characters are a point to mention. If these were worn in a Harry Potter style film, they would have been a hokey joke. In a film by such accomplished and independent filmmakers as von Trier and Vinterberg, the outlandish costumes fit and make sense without seeming contrived. Audio was not so great, but I could hear most of it. Diegetic dialogue was obviously going to be low. The narrator's voice was about twice as loud as that and the music was twice as loud as the narration. It's easy to see how layered audio levels like this can get out of hand. I really liked this movie and rate it good. You should probably watch it.
A Danish British drama directed by Lars von Trier, starring Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgard and Udo Kier.
A religious woman in a small town marries a man who works on a nearby oil rig. he is injured at work and returns, but she thinks that her prayer caused his injury because she was praying for his return. He tells her to have sex with someone else and tell him about it, so she begins to fornicate her way through town.
Pretty strange, but that's why I like it. Besides the chapter headings, everything was shot with handheld panavision super35mm cameras. The film was then transferred to digital video and back to film again. This created a surreal effect of heavy outlines and some serious grain or grit. The chapter headings used a tripod. The plot was sparse, but held my interest as the characters developed. Bess and Jan (wife and husband) were dynamic characters, as Bess went crazy and Jan was injured, causing him to go a little crazy too. The only thing that I will mention about audio is that the chapter headings included 1970s mainstream rock music. I used to not like that genre, but have been getting into progressive rock from that time period recently. The pacing was slow to match the sparse plot, but that ended up working out alright. I'm rating this adequate because it's definitely too unique to be just o.k. You may want to watch it. Also, look up Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg's "Dogma/Dogme 95" movement for more information about production style.
A British Danish Belgian French German adventure directed by Lars von Trier, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Willlem Dafoe and Udo Kier.
A man finds a woman injured and lying in an alley. He takes her to his apartment where she tells him about her life.
Beyond amazing. Camera-work and editing blew me away. The plot and characters held my attention the whole 5 and a half hours to the point that I wanted to watch it again as soon as it was done. Speaking of time, make sure to watch the longer version/director's cut. It's worthwhile. This film is not for the squeamish. If graphic depictions of sex and violence make you squeam, don't watch it. Also blasphemy, racism and foul language. More genitals crossed the screen than I'm used to, but that's o.k. for a movie this good. I can't think of anything that would improve this besides better audio editing, but that could be improved in most films. I rate this best. it's a keeper. Watch it!
A Danish French crime film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Kristin Scott Thomas.
A Thai boxer/lounge singer with a sword goes up against a gang who are dealing drugs and murdering people.
This was totally incoherent and poorly made. It's a shame that it was dedicated to Alejandro Jodorowsky. The hour and a half went by too slow, even though the pacing was fast. If you can figure out the plot, you were the one who wrote it. There were too many characters and only 3 of them were identifiable. The hero with the polo shirt and "sword from nowhere" skill was absurd. There was barely any dialogue, but lots of "inaudible dialogue" and what there was was too simplistic to convey any meaning. The only good dialogue scene was the mother berating her son at the upscale restaurant. That was hilarious! There were some good sets, but also some horrible ones. Having the hero wear a polo shirt is a moronic decision in an action film. The villain looks like he belongs in a Fleshgod Apocalypse music video by the end. The camera-work was actually not bad. They had a variety of different angles, movements and exposures. As far as audio goes, all I can think of is the over exaggerated sword sound "blade scrapes, rings". Other critics mostly hated it, but a few loved it. You should read the Wikipedia page's "reception" section for a laugh or two. I hated it and have supplied ample reasons for why I rate it shit. Do not watch this!
A Danish American science fiction action directed by Albert Pyun, starring Sue Price.
A genetic mutant's mother flees the future with her baby and travels back in time to 1980s Africa. The mother is killed, but the daughter is raised by an African tribe to be a warrior. A monster/cyborg from the future finds the mutant woman. Conflict ensues.
This was pretty crappy. The plot made almost no sense at all and was not communicated very clearly. Only the main character had a name. I think this illustrates how little character development there was. Sue Price had not reached the level of bodybuilding in which we see her in Nemesis 4, so she still looked female and not like He-Man. The video looked so bad that it was almost TROMA-esque and the audio was no better. The special effects were poorly done, but they included a ripple effect around the antagonist and a magic knife. The subtitles that I got were crap and this made a working knowledge of African language necessary to understand the first third of the film. Overall, you would really be better off watching something else. I rate this poor.
A Danish American science fiction drama directed by Albert Pyun, starring Sue Price.
A female body-builder has conversations with guys that have stuff stuck to their faces.
This was horrid! Plotless rambling with talking heads the whole time. The plot was so sparse as to be non-existent. The conversations were drawn out so long and then there was a little bit of action before the next conversation. The characters are accurately described in my plot summary. Imagine He-Man with boobs. That's the main character and she is not shy about naked scenes. Then add a regular, average looking guy who has paint, sequins and "cyborg parts" (A.K.A. bits of plastic) on his face. The video could have been done better by a child with an iPhone. At least they would have gotten better shot variety by mistake. The audio had clear dialogue... Overall, I think I've torn this a new one just about enough. I turned it off somewhere around the 50 minute mark. I rate this shit. NEVER EVER WATCH IT!!!!
