Review of Melancholia (2011) by Jollyg87 — 15 Dec 2011

This is a very similar film to "The Tree of Life" in the sense that both of them could be part of a subgenre called "ambiguous art house dramas." But for me, there were some stark differences between the two films that led to "Tree of Life" being great, and "Melancholia" being art-house puke.

The most important thing is that there is very little to latch onto in "Melancholia." The story is told rather clumsily, the shaky-cam style takes away from the cinematographic beauty, and the characters are ruined by a script that seems more concerned with big ideas rather than compelling characters.

At least with "Tree of Life," it had a compelling middle where character development was at the forefront, and the imagery was beautiful. Another aspect that bothered me was something many independent films are often guilty of which is taking unnecessary pauses.

Characters often stare off into the distance, and there are so many pauses in the dialogue. People in real life do not do this, but in the art film world, apparently they do. Then there's the complete shift in the story.

Melancholia recklessly jumps from depression drama to an end-of-the-world film. It's so abrupt you're left shaking your head as to why this shift happened in the first place. Then it becomes apparent when looking at Dunst's character shift, and you realize that "Melancholia" is simply a thin message movie about the nature of depression.

Aside from a few gorgeous shots (the last shot especially), there's no reason to see "Melancholia." It makes you feel icky inside, and then it does something even worse, it makes you bored and wishing that the end of the world would just come already.