Melancholia (2011)

http://vimeo.com/22072654

Looks gorgeous.

Meh. Looks false, self-indulgent, and nihilistic. I'm going for TREE OF LIFE instead. The Wagner vs. Smetana choice of music is also telling, and perhaps pertains to why I prefer one of the directors personalities to the other.

Might watch it for Hurt and Gainsbourg, and his regular, Skarsgård, but that's about it. To be honest, I'd rather experience the real thing.

Fine trailer.

I'm significantly more interested in MELANCHOLIA than TREE OF LIFE, which is just Oprah-esque spirituality expressed in grand imagery.

Malick doesn't do "Oprah-esque spirituality". His is sincere and humanist.

Sharky wrote:

Malick doesn't do "Oprah-esque spirituality".

In the case of TREE OF LIFE, he does. A stupid bit of comfort spirituality that fails to make any sense of the issues with which it intends to grapple. The exquisiteness of its visual language may elevate it, somewhat, but I'm skeptical TREE OF LIFE will overcome it, especially since the visual language, as seen so far, seems to have been ripped from a bunch of inspirational posters one sees on walls in office buildings.

Arkadin wrote:

Sharky wrote:

Malick doesn't do "Oprah-esque spirituality".

In the case of TREE OF LIFE, he does. A stupid bit of comfort spirituality that fails to make any sense of the issues with which it intends to grapple. The exquisiteness of its visual language may elevate it, somewhat, but I'm skeptical TREE OF LIFE will overcome it, especially since the visual language, as seen so far, seems to have been ripped from a bunch of inspirational posters one sees on walls in office buildings.

We've only seen two saccharine trailers so far, which like I've said before, it's the standard course for most Malick works, whereas the films themselves often are far more ambiguous and cogent.

I'm not particularly impressed with the trailers of either MELANCHOLIA or TREE OF LIFE, so I'm basing my current verdict on both directors recent output. I sincerely doubt either directors are going to a do a U-turn this late in their careers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/apr/08/lars-von-trier-melancholia

Sharky wrote:

We've only seen two saccharine trailers so far, which like I've said before, it's the standard course for most Malick works, whereas the films themselves often are far more ambiguous and cogent.

But I'm not just going off of the trailers.

Sharky wrote:

I sincerely doubt either directors are going to a do a U-turn this late in their careers.

A full U-turn? Perhaps not. But it's always possible that these films could focus on better or worse aspects of these directors' personalities. With THE TREE OF LIFE, in particular, I fear that it will give full focus to some of the sentimentality (and not just optimism or humanism, but problematic, simplistic sentimentality) that has reared its head in aspects of THE THIN RED LINE and THE NEW WORLD.

I know much, much less about MELANCHOLIA, but I like that trailer.

Will someone bring the real Harmsway back? Harms Classic hates Von Trier and De Palma. This Anakin is an imposter.

My dear Ambler, I judge the output of filmmakers on a film-by-film basis, and hesitate to write off any talented filmmaker wholesale. I find a great deal of Von Trier's output wearying and hollow, even sadistic, but I nevertheless have plenty of time for DOGVILLE, as I have often said. I may hate MELANCHOLIA, but that trailer looks pretty good, and so count me in for a viewing.

Has anyone seen Melancholia yet? Only just opened in the UK.

Von Trier is already preparing his next flick, the Oppers biopic, Nymphomaniac.

I saw the trailer last night. Looks impressive, but Kirsten Dunst. Really?

FieldsMan wrote:

Looks impressive, but Kirsten Dunst. Really?

Why, is she forever doomed to only accept roles in superhero dross and chick flicks? Does she have to file an application first to become a "serious actress"?

She was in The Virgin Suicides. I've heard tell that's supposed to be a somewhat serious film.