I still don't know what to think of this film. Maybe I'm missing something. I revere Bjork as a goddess, but this movie just didn't touch me. Many actions of the characters seemed illogical (normally I don't mind this, but this was happening to the extreme), and contrived in the sense that I felt as though the director was trying desperately to make me feel sorry for the main character.
The musical scenes were a refreshing and unique addition to the movie, although I was expecting an excellence of choreography and directing more along the lines of Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet" music video; the musical numbers in this movie seemed very clunky in comparison to that masterpiece, but maybe they were supposed to be that way and I'm just missing the point of the film. (On the other hand, maybe Spike Jonze--the director of "It's Oh So Quiet"--should've directed this.)
The colors and texture of the video were also disappointing for me, but that was probably Von Trier's intention... The muddy palette, along with the handheld camera and the digital video compression artifacts and the "cut & paste" style of editing made the film seem more like a documentary, and in that sense the realism was enhanced, but at the same time ... the colors were just so vomitous, and the poor quality of the digital video made it seem like the theatre was playing a pirated MPEG version of the movie off the Internet. This isn't really a complaint; I guess it's just a matter of personal taste.
Bjork's acting was superb, and so was her music. In fact, I think everyone in the movie did a fine acting job--it's just the script that made the film seem illogical and contrived to me.
Maybe my expectations for this movie were just way too high, or I was missing something crucial when I watched it. Still, when I watch a very good tragedy, I don't only feel sorry for the main character, but I also feel like I've gotten this sort of "portrait of humanity," or been given something to reflect on--at the very least, something more than simply feeling sorry for the protagonist. With this movie, though, I just ended up wondering why the hell things hadn't gone differently, and as a result I felt as though the director had set up this "crash course" for Selma just so I could feel sorry for her, and nothing more.
Still, maybe I'm just missing something and I need to see the film a second time to really appreciate it.
The musical scenes were a refreshing and unique addition to the movie, although I was expecting an excellence of choreography and directing more along the lines of Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet" music video; the musical numbers in this movie seemed very clunky in comparison to that masterpiece, but maybe they were supposed to be that way and I'm just missing the point of the film. (On the other hand, maybe Spike Jonze--the director of "It's Oh So Quiet"--should've directed this.)
The colors and texture of the video were also disappointing for me, but that was probably Von Trier's intention... The muddy palette, along with the handheld camera and the digital video compression artifacts and the "cut & paste" style of editing made the film seem more like a documentary, and in that sense the realism was enhanced, but at the same time ... the colors were just so vomitous, and the poor quality of the digital video made it seem like the theatre was playing a pirated MPEG version of the movie off the Internet. This isn't really a complaint; I guess it's just a matter of personal taste.
Bjork's acting was superb, and so was her music. In fact, I think everyone in the movie did a fine acting job--it's just the script that made the film seem illogical and contrived to me.
Maybe my expectations for this movie were just way too high, or I was missing something crucial when I watched it. Still, when I watch a very good tragedy, I don't only feel sorry for the main character, but I also feel like I've gotten this sort of "portrait of humanity," or been given something to reflect on--at the very least, something more than simply feeling sorry for the protagonist. With this movie, though, I just ended up wondering why the hell things hadn't gone differently, and as a result I felt as though the director had set up this "crash course" for Selma just so I could feel sorry for her, and nothing more.
Still, maybe I'm just missing something and I need to see the film a second time to really appreciate it.