some really stark imagery, and I LOVED the soundtrack.
but I'm sure some of the shit that goes on towards the middle and end will alienate the hell out of people.
I didn't notice any walkouts when I was there, but there have been many. Understandable
i went by myself and there were 4 girls sitting behind me i really wished i had a pair of ear plugs b/c the shrieking that these girls let out was deafening, humorous but deafening. they along with a few others walked out of the movie.
Best horror movie I have seen in a long long time... I dare say one of the best I have ever seen. This is some really disturbing excellent stuff!! Totally fucking morbid
Fuck this movie. This was an art house film trying to be a horror movie and trying not to be a hollywood movie. It failed at both.
It wasn't all terrible. There were some pretty thought provoking concepts, and some gorgeous visuals. The whole nature is satan's church thing actually kicked me in the brain a little bit. That towering dead tree was grim as fuck. And to a small extent I appreciated how ambiguous the plot was.
Now let's start at the beginning. Willem Dafoe's shaft. No thanks. That whole scene, in fact, wasn't really doing it for me. It's a little kid jumping out a window and I didn't feel like the slow-mo aria thing was visceral enough to creep me out, or stir me at all. Then the wife goes into her depression, a portion of the film which would have been way better off titled "Bipolar bitch is bipolar." This is the point in the film where I'm supposed to be getting attached from the characters and I'm not. They're both just so stale and monotone and deliberately ambiguous to the point where the film is more or less jogging in place for a solid 20 minutes.
Then out of nowhere it turns out she's terrified of the woods. It comes out of left field, but whatever it's ominous and foreshadowing for the first time in the whole stupid movie. Fuck yes. Then comes the whole visualization scene on the train with the wife walking through the woods. Best scene in the whole film. For the 5 minutes that scene lasted I was ready to forgive the whole thing and fall in love with this movie.
Then they get out to the woods. Oh shit, there's all that stuff from the wife's visions. Oh shit, there's a deer with a half aborted baby. Oh shit, the wife just freaked out on that bridge. What's that all about?! I don't know, she's alseep for the next 15 minutes. And for half the remainder of the film.
That's how the rest of the film really went for me. Oh shit, nature is satan's church I hope they expand on this. No, wait they're gonna fuck and then goto sleep. Oh fuck, super creepy scene where the wife hears a baby crying but it's not their son it's coming from the depths of the woods... yeah but now they're in a tiff and not talking about it anymore. Oh weird, Willem Dafoe is having creepy acorn dreams too, I wonder what that's all about... nope we're not revisiting that again at all. Oh holy shit, this evil looking fox is about to say something cool. Nope, it says something corny and I have no idea what's going on. Oh WTF, attic full of satanic images and the scrawlings of the wife while she went insane, this has got to be the missing key to this story right? Nah, Willem Dafoe is writing some notes to himself, and the whole thing is already forgotten. The three sisters are coming and someone has to die... the best explanation of that we get... "There's no such constellation." Thanks.
For everyone who bitched about Where the Wild Things Are not having any plot, this movie is your punishment.
This movie explores the idea that because Christianity is a patriarchal organization, and that Eve is the cause for sin, that women are by the bible's definition the Antichrist. Anyone bitching about misogyny just doesn't get it.
post by Murph at Nov 2,2009 10:53am edited Nov 2,2009 10:53am
I'll admit the seemingly incoherent plot of this film is slightly off-putting, but to me it was just Von Trier melding tons of mythological (nature of surroundings, creatures, names), literary (three beggars, Nick), and European magic and even tarot into a storyline consistently engaged in a tug-of-war between the real (Dafoe, natural world...at times) and the mind (She, natural world...at times).
I think its problems with keeping a linear storyline which unravels into some greater meaning is due to the fact that Von Trier really fleshes the film out using his own (my opinion) understanding of the tropes I mentioned before. He's obviously not a master of history nor myth, yet I just find the premise of the film and its mood to be inescapable.
Fuck this movie. This was an art house film trying to be a horror movie and trying not to be a hollywood movie. It failed at both.
It wasn't all terrible. There were some pretty thought provoking concepts, and some gorgeous visuals. The whole nature is satan's church thing actually kicked me in the brain a little bit. That towering dead tree was grim as fuck. And to a small extent I appreciated how ambiguous the plot was.
Now let's start at the beginning. Willem Dafoe's shaft. No thanks. That whole scene, in fact, wasn't really doing it for me. It's a little kid jumping out a window and I didn't feel like the slow-mo aria thing was visceral enough to creep me out, or stir me at all. Then the wife goes into her depression, a portion of the film which would have been way better off titled "Bipolar bitch is bipolar." This is the point in the film where I'm supposed to be getting attached from the characters and I'm not. They're both just so stale and monotone and deliberately ambiguous to the point where the film is more or less jogging in place for a solid 20 minutes.
Then out of nowhere it turns out she's terrified of the woods. It comes out of left field, but whatever it's ominous and foreshadowing for the first time in the whole stupid movie. Fuck yes. Then comes the whole visualization scene on the train with the wife walking through the woods. Best scene in the whole film. For the 5 minutes that scene lasted I was ready to forgive the whole thing and fall in love with this movie.
Then they get out to the woods. Oh shit, there's all that stuff from the wife's visions. Oh shit, there's a deer with a half aborted baby. Oh shit, the wife just freaked out on that bridge. What's that all about?! I don't know, she's alseep for the next 15 minutes. And for half the remainder of the film.
That's how the rest of the film really went for me. Oh shit, nature is satan's church I hope they expand on this. No, wait they're gonna fuck and then goto sleep. Oh fuck, super creepy scene where the wife hears a baby crying but it's not their son it's coming from the depths of the woods... yeah but now they're in a tiff and not talking about it anymore. Oh weird, Willem Dafoe is having creepy acorn dreams too, I wonder what that's all about... nope we're not revisiting that again at all. Oh holy shit, this evil looking fox is about to say something cool. Nope, it says something corny and I have no idea what's going on. Oh WTF, attic full of satanic images and the scrawlings of the wife while she went insane, this has got to be the missing key to this story right? Nah, Willem Dafoe is writing some notes to himself, and the whole thing is already forgotten. The three sisters are coming and someone has to die... the best explanation of that we get... "There's no such constellation." Thanks.
For everyone who bitched about Where the Wild Things Are not having any plot, this movie is your punishment.
Alright. Saw Antichrist on Sunday night...
Fuck this movie. This was an art house film trying to be a horror movie and trying not to be a hollywood movie. It failed at both.
Now, I don't own a beret or purchase my coffee from Starbucks, but this sounds like my type of film. I enjoyed The Element of Crime, so I have some faith in this.
I'm not so familiar with Von Trier. If his other stuff is better than this I'll check it out. My initial feeling is that this guy probably made some sweet films and then pulled a Danielwski and decided that since everyone thinks he's a genius he can do whatever he wants.
