I have to be honest from the beginning:
I'm not a Bjork fan. I don't like her voice at all. I do
admit that she is a great artist, but the style of her voice
isn't exactly my favorite. I like only some particular songs
of her, but I've never had the patience to hear an entire
Bjork album. From the other hand, Lars Von Trier isn't my
favorite director. He has for sure a unique personal, distinctive
filming style, but it's not ended up always in good results.
Mainly not but in "Dancer in the Dark" this style
is really amazing.
I
believe that for Bjork and Lars Von Trier, "Dancer
in the Dark" it's their masterpiece. Difficult characters
as the told both of them, they create an explosive interpersonal
chemistry in the movie - something that it's obvious. The
entire movie is filmed in "hold in hand" camera
that truly follows the actors like a different human eye.
The truth is that it will take some time for your eyes to
get used to this neurotic and dazzling filming style, but
shortly you don't even notice the difference because you
captivated by the story.
This
story is really heart breaking but not in a mellow way.
It gets you deep in sheer misery and despair but in a dissent
and not excessive way. According to the official synopsis
"Selma (Bjork) is a Czech immigrant, a single mother
working in a factory in rural America. Her salvation is
her passion for music, specifically, the all-singing, all-dancing
numbers found in classic Hollywood musicals. Selma harbors
a sad secret: she is losing her eyesight and her son Gene
stands to suffer the same fate if she can't put away enough
money to secure him an operation. When a desperate neighbor
falsely accuses Selma of stealing his savings, the drama
of her life escalates to a tragic finale".
"Dancer
in the Dark" is a musical - but you should not wait
to see a "Hollywood"-style musical. We should
mention of course Catherine Deneuve, which is gorgeous even
in the poor worker's outfit. She plays Kathy, Selma's best
friend and co-worker in the industry. She tries to make
her more social and take care of herself, but all in vain.
For
sure "Dancer in the Dark" is not a "light"
movie. It's not a movie to delight you but provoke you to
think, about the human nature, the difficulties of life
but the human insistence as well. The grant Cannes Prize
was a fair decision for this movie. There are two sites
about "Dancer in the Dark" are the official sites:
one for Europe
and the other for USA
and they're really astonishing in their design. Definitely
you should pay a visit over them and definitely you should
watch the movie - if you haven't seen it already.
|