Review of Dogville (2003) by Ivan M — 03 May 2012
I'm not absolutely sure how I feel about this film. It is a peculiarly unconventional experiment in cinema by Lars Von Trier. The story takes place in a tiny American town called Dogville, seemingly in the early 20th century.
A helpless woman called Grace (Nicole Kidman) is running away from something, and stumbles into this village, welcomed by Tom Edison, Jr. (Paul Bettany) who convinces the community to provide Grace with refuge, in exchange for physical labour from Grace.
It becomes clear that Grace's dependance on the townspeople's approval of her will prove dangerous. But what makes this film so stunningly unique is not the plot or the characters, but the location.
There is no realistic set portrayal of the Depression era USA town. There is simply a large studio with pitch darkness on all sides and white lines on the floor to mark where the villagers' houses are.
No reference is made to this bizzare staging, and characters still reach out, open and close doors that are not truly there. That is the distinguishing feature of this film and I'm still trying to work out whether it's a masterpiece or self-indulgent trash, but I certainly appreciate how fantastically original, despite whether it may not be a very good film.
This review of Dogville (2003) was written by Ivan M on 03 May 2012.
Dogville has generally received very positive reviews.
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