(another retro)
After Von Trier’s last outing, the woeful Antichrist, I somehow still found myself interested in his upcoming movie “Melancholia” starring a grown up Kirsten Dunst in a mature role as a depressed bride and a host of familiar faces attending the wedding, where soon, a planet would appear from behind the sun and threaten to smash into the Earth. I found this concept very interesting and then they released the trailer and I was hooked! Well the other day I got to see this and I have to say the first ten minutes were absolutely brilliant, although the meaning of these first images won’t make good sense until you have sat through two very boring hours of talking, mood acting and nauseating, unnecessary shaky cam. I can say I enjoyed the last five minutes too but, my goodness the filler in between the opening and final scenes was so lame (to me) that I was often distracted and thinking of other things to do. It took me about four hours to get through this because i was so bored I kept getting up to amuse myself with other things.
The story is told in two parts, the first part about Dunst’s character Justine, a clinically and continuously depressed young lady who is getting married to moony eyed Alexandar Skarsgard at a billion dollar country club. Well, they show up two hours late to her sister Claire’s anger, which apparently sets her depression into gear and she pouts and mopes and cries for the next hour. She also takes a bath on her wedding night, her mother declares her hate for weddings during the reception, she pees on a golf green, sexes up an intern from her company and then Skarsgard determines they can’t remain married and leaves for good. Did mention the irritating shaky cam? It’s awful. After the beautiful first ten minutes – why did we devolve into this? Terrible.
The next part is told from the perspective of Claire and her maddeningly irritating husband played by gravelly Keifer Sutherland. They have taken in Dunst who is so sad she can barely get out of bed, which is causing friction between Claire and her family, this is all exacerbated by the arrival of the planet Melancholia which is threatening to crash into Earth. Claire is so scared of this she begins popping pills and having Sutherland lecture her about getting on the ‘net and reading about the ominous end of times. We get shaky cam, horse rides, the planet looming, looming, looming, a naked Dunst and then the end, which i won’t spoil.
The imagery at the beginning is beautiful looking, and as we go through the film and discover what they actually mean is absolutely brilliant. To me, it is worth watching again just for that. But…. living through the camera work, the dialogue and the situations people put themselves into that make no sense was enough to make me depressed for sitting through it. I think the thing that most people will take from this is that Dunst finally shows off her enormous jugs and that’s probably about it.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….JUGS
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YEP!!!!!!
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Okay, this was actually near the very top of my netflix queue; i plan to watch within the next couple weeks. Do you think I’d like it?
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I really don’t know – a lot of the dialogue seems unscripted and sketchy – plus there’s a lot of shaky cam. At least if you’re streaming it, you can turn it off without wasting money. I’d be interested to know what you think…
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Okay cool, I will come back here and drop a comment within the next week or two.
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Sounds good! What should I call my FF team this year? It’s always been something with the word SHIT in it. SHIT SANDWICH, INGLORIOUS SHITHOLES, SHITTER IN THE RYE (etc)
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Shittin’ on the Dock of the Bay
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LOL I like it!!
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Illegal Defensive Shits
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Oh c’mon, Antichrist was terrific! Melancholia doesn’t have any filler…it’s a story about severe depression, the planet is just a metaphor. Anyway, I loved this film, as with all of Trier’s work. Like you said, the imagery is stunning and umm…BOOBS!
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LOL!
Antichrist?? UGH. I was going along with it ok until she pounded on his boner with a log… and then beat him off… WTF??? And that just reminded me of the whole scissors thing… AARRGGHHH!!
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LOL, I know pretty disgusting…I love it !!!!
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With most of von Trier movies, it’s depressing and slow, but it always remained interesting to me. Even when it seemed like the world was never going to end. Good review.
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“With most of von Trier movies, it’s depressing and slow” AMEN to that!
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you lost me at Kirsten Dunst…
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Nice!!
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No, no, you’d be very surprised. She does a really good job, good enough to make me want to see any further serious roles she might take on,
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I agree – she did a god job, I think the direction was a little shaky. As was the camera work : )
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I liked this movie, Eric. I didn’t even notice any shaky camera. I agree with you about the opening – beautiful.
Von Triers really interests me but I’m getting a bit suspicious about how, in his movies (at least in the ones that I’ve seen} the women come to some sorry end.
Once is once, two may be coincidence, three is a pattern.
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Once is once, two may be coincidence, three is a pattern.
I love it! Thanks for reading, Ashley!!
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🙂
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Dead on review. Just what I thought. I wanted a better movie in the middle.
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Yep… Thank you!!!
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Mary Jane has lovely coconuts.
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AMEN!!
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I was torn on this. Part of me enjoyed it and it had some great imagery but then I also thought part of it was self indulgent and pretentious.
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Exactly…!
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So, does she get naked, or just the top half? How long for? Is it worth it for that? 😉
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LOL – she does both – it’s an OK movie I was just terribly distracted by the shitty shaky cam and the dialogue…
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I loved this one, man. Thought it was a great exploration of depression and mental health. But then, I’m a big biased fan of Von Trier. Antichrist was excellent as well. But hey! To each their own. 🙂
Boat drinks!
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To each their own, always!!
Boat Drinks!
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LOL!
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HA!!
: )
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Good review. I’ll get around to watching this someday as it does sound interesting yet boring. Oh – Dunst got her boobs out in a film I just watched a few nights ago – All Good Things (Ryan Gosling thing. You’d hate it). Oh! – But I watched Rubber last night, which is one I think you liked.
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WHAT DID YOU THINK OF RUBBER??????????
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Well, I hate to tell you this as we’re tight and all but…. I REALLY….
Liked it. 😉 Just did a review. Sort of. And will hopefully send you my Shitfest review that I’m totally not happy with very soon! Probably tomorrow night. And reply to comments then too. And read your blog and a million others! Tomorrow. Never enough time! 😦
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I just read it! eHugs to you!
Bring it, bring it!! There’s only a few slots left : )
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Aw maaaaaan! Save my slot! You’ll have it tomorrow! 🙂 Then I hope you do Shitfest again because my choice sucked and I know what one I’d rather watch next time. 😉
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It’s saved – of course!
Oh we’ll totally do it again – I’m hoping there will be enough interest to do a Shitfest: Winter : )
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A Shitfest for every season! 🙂
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