Review of The Element of Crime (1984) by Steff A — 22 May 2013
If David Lynch and Andrei Tarkovsky had a disfigured retarded baby and paraded it around as a sideshow freak it would be this movie. This movie, while it has impressive visuals and interesting cinematography, is a bunch of pretentious doo doo.
Lars Von Trier tried to make a movie like an auter way before he was one and the result is at times painfuly bad. It's a noir film, in a sense, but one that is based around the psychology of a criminal and the detective that chases him tries to become that criminal.
By the end it's a pretty tied up mess that offers symbols with no meaning and a plot that proceeds on to nowhere. With each passing second Trier continues this exercise in style and it's a pain to watch him waste his talents like that.
Still we can forgive him given that this is his first feature film and considering the fact that it is pretty well directed and impressive from a certain standpoint. It's just meaningless. That's all.
Oh and it also features helicopters in one scene. Kudos to Lars for production value.
This review of The Element of Crime (1984) was written by Steff A on 22 May 2013.
The Element of Crime has generally received positive reviews.
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