Review of Melancholia (2011) by Stefan G — 12 Aug 2015

As an art film, Melancholia was certainly interesting, but the narrative lacks focus. In fact, the film's artistic potential is often belied by the film's slow and quiet pace. I don't mind that the film is so quiet most of the time, but because the characters seem to talk at a kind of sporadic rate, it's almost like there's a bleak silence lingering around.

Act I is perhaps the dullest part of the film, while Act II takes a few surreal turns before eventually snuffs out. The performances were good, but not great enough that they have much of an impact. However, I think the film-makers may have been intending an approach that sees the characters conveying emotion in a relatively silent way.

I guess they wanted the film to feel like you were drifting through the end of days. I think the film had a lot of potential, but it lacked the passion that would have allowed it to make a real impact on the viewer, to the point that the film may as well have gone out in a whimper despite it ending with a planetary collision.