One of the founders of Dogme95 the purist aesthetic cinema movement from Denmark and arguably one of the current international directors really pushing the possibilities of film, Lars von Trier's Dogville opens today in New York and Los Angeles. Nicole Kidman and an impressive cadre of co-stars inhabits a Depression era town where the walls and foliage are chalk outlines and stenciled signs. Intriguing, thinks the Cinecultist.
So says A.O. Scottin last week's Sunday NY Times:
"Dogville belongs in the company of other European dreams about America — Kafka's Amerika, of course, but also Bertolt Brecht's plays set among the gangsters of Chicago and films like Wim Wenders's Paris, Texas and Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabrikie Point. To call these various works dreams is to caution against taking them too literally, and also to suggest that they may be most interesting for what they reveal about the dreamers."
Also see, Stephen Holden's review from when Dogville played as part of last year's New York Film Festival. Back in October, Josh also saw it and posted this insightful, concise review on Cultivated Stupidity:
"Holy shit Dogville. Holy shit I was 5 feet away from Nicole Kidman. Holy shit Dogville."Posted by karen at March 26, 2004 8:17 AM