So, I just got through watching the new Lars von Trier film, Antichrist. I'm not really sure what to make of this. The opening prologue is easily one of the most beautiful filmic moments I've seen in quite a while. Once the film starts proper, we settle in for a very dour, character driven affair, marked by low light, a lack of color and a meta-textual clinical analysis of the characters feelings. To be honest, it's a bit of a let down after that opening, but it does make a kind of thematic sense. It is very typical to characterize important moments in our lives and in the lives of fictional characters as beautiful, or special, whereas the aftermath of these fleeting instances is often mundane, grinding, and unpleasant. Still, I'm not sure if I was in the mood for compelling to win out over entertaining.Eventually the story shifts to the woods, which of course characterize so many different things thematically, that it's almost meaningless. Here we continue more of the above mentioned dour human analysis, until the film takes a sharp turn into the horror/supernatural genre. Sadly, while it seems Trier attempts to make this gradual, I couldn't help but feel flung about as he made such a sharp turn. It's at this point that the story begins to be driven by images and elements taken from a variety of films ranging from Häxan, to the recent À l'intérieur (aka. Inside). Again, while this is compelling, it is not very original or entertaining, and one easily becomes a bit bored with the whole narrative and its assimilation of traditional horror film conventions.
For an epilogue, after a rather dissatisfying and mostly expected conclusion, we are treated to yet another beautiful end-piece that only serves to show up the body of the film. Now, this all may sound very harsh, but this is not a bad movie by any stretch of the word. One cannot deny Trier's ability as a visual storyteller. I just can't help but feel it treads a ground, and shoots for a reaction, that I've been through many times over already. Perhaps, if you've never seen anything dealing with this subject matter, you'll be stunned and taken aback. However, if your watching this movie in the first place, then you've probably seen this all before. As you may have noticed, I've avoided the misogyny issues this entire review, and while many folks have been debating back and fourth about the film's comments on said subject matter, in the end, I just didn't care.
In summary, if you can catch this on Netflix instant watch like I did, go for it. But I certainly wouldn't buy the upcoming Criterion DVD/Blu-ray.
Trailer:
Well I gotta say, I will eventually seek this film out, but not right now. It sounds heavy and probably would be disturbing to me. But I like your review. It gives me a sense of the films greatest strengths (its visually awesome) and its weaknesses (mainly that it rehashes things that have been done before and that its not light fare by any means) and I now still want to see this visually unsettling film. Thanks.
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