One part Brechtian experiment, and one part send up of America, Lars von Trier imported English language stars (including Nicole Kidman) and staged a 1930s gangsters’ tale in a studio stripped of all realism but blistered with turmoil. You’ve never seen anything like this!
A virtuosic act of defiance against his detractors, Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built is a brilliant, ultra-violent portrayal of a serial killer. Starring a mesmeric Matt Dillon on terrifying form, this Dantean plunge into the mind of madness is a provocative blend of comedy and horror.
A difficult yet rewarding film from the equally complex Danish provocateur Lars von Trier! This fiercely polemical, little-seen sequel to Dogville tackles a topic as sensitive as slavery, all the while maintaining its predecessor’s Brechtian premise, anti-American bent, and yes, its brilliance.
Lars von Trier dialed down his ferociousness in the mid-2000s to make a satire of neoliberalism that is, in fact, surprisingly sweet! Circling around an eager thespian who bears the brunt of a peculiar act of outsourcing, this droll, lo-fi version of the office sitcom never needs a laugh track.
Genre conventions are retooled in Christoph Hochhäusler’s fifth feature, a political thriller engineered with all the slick ingenuity of Berlin’s glass and steel business districts. Corruption in those high places of late neoliberalism has rarely been rendered as cleverly and sexily as this.