Review of Dogville (2003) by Valéria V — 09 Mar 2012

If Lars von Trier is anything, he's challenging as a filmmaker. His films are beyond different, and like Terrence Malick, they cause a polarizing to audiences watching them. I happen to appreciate any filmmaker trying to do something different and not make what I call "cookie cutter movies".

Dogville is just such an example of a movie than is completely unorthodox. I'm not going to comment on this film's meaning, or whether or not I agree with it. It's certainly thought-provoking, and people far more interested in it than I have said a great deal of things about it.

My main concern with the film is its length. The film is just a little over three hours, but it felt more like four hours long. There's a lot of repetition in the dialogue and some scenes that seem to go nowhere.

If this were a book, I would have cut a couple of chapters out of it. The drama in the film is very effective, but it all goes on a little too long, making it feel disparaging to a viewer. Was that the intention of Lars von Trier? I don't know, maybe, but it didn't work that well for me and made me want the film to end sooner than it actually did.

I liked the performances, the look and the style of the film, but if it had been about a half hour or nearly an hour shorter, it would have benefitted greatly.