It was reasonably interesting, but ultimately unsuccessful; I don't know why it got applause and lavish adjectives from some at the screening I attended, nor do I know why it was deemed worthy of the Globe AND the Oscar
"In your eyes, the light, the heat; in your eyes, I am complete"- Peter Gabriel
I agree.
"Unfocused and manupulative" A perfect description of all Susanne Bier's movies.
and I have a friend who's living and starting a family in Denmark who strongly recommended I watch 'After the Wedding'...
"In your eyes, the light, the heat; in your eyes, I am complete"- Peter Gabriel
I found it to be fairly well focused. It was focussed on showing us how different people, who are all very good at heart, react in different ways to tragic and difficult events.
I thought it was absolutely compelling for the first 80% of the movie, but then descended slightly into sentimentality and cliché in the last portion. 8/10
Well said...
THE WORLD IS YOURS
unfocused: no
the movie only ''focuses'' on how violence is a parts of our lives doesnt matter where we live and who we are.
manipulative: to do what?
watch everything you like, dont like everything you watch.
(For those who missed the subject heading - SPOILERS!!!)
The movie manipulates its viewers into desperately wanting the doctor and his friends to take decisive vigilante action against the African despot (then rewards this desire when the crowd presumably beats him to death and relieves the doctor of the responsibility of doing it himself), and it does this by gratuitously and stupidly having the villain leering over his crimes and smacking his lips and cackling through yellow teeth like the least-subtle kind of Hollywood mustache-twirler who rubs our faces in what he's done and boasts that he'd happily do it again; I don't doubt that there are psychopaths in the world whose thinking is twisted and warped in this way, but would one of them really be arrogant and stupid enough and so lacking in self-preservation that he'd basically dare the doctor to hate him enough to kill him, right there in the hospital where he's hoping that the doctor will care for him well enough to save his leg?
I get that the point of the scene is that bullies ARE often arrogant enough to feel they are immune from people's feelings and hence from the consequences of their actions, but I just felt that this particular character and this particular scene was unrealistic and I didn't buy it and I felt manipulated to react in a certain way to something, when I like to be allowed by a director/writer to make my own mind up about how I should feel about what I'm seeing on the screen...
I will write more about my experience with this film when I have more time; have to get to work! Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you...
"In your eyes, the light, the heat; in your eyes, I am complete"- Peter Gabriel
Sorry but not me. I understand your point. Maybe it made you feel that way. But you cant generalize it with your own experience. I think her intention was to show us that there are despots all araound the world. She also showed the micro racism against swedes in denmark so that we can fully get the core idea of the film. violence and hatred can grow everywhere.
watch everything you like, dont like everything you watch.
but the way it developed, depicted and resolved those themes I found disappointing; part of the problem was that, as written and acted, I found it hard to sympathise with the kid whose mother died; he just seemed too stubborn and unlikeable, especially when he determines to build a bomb; if I'd had a stronger sense that he wanted to blow up the man he feared in order to feel safer, then it would have worked much better for me, but instead it seemed more like just an angry kid acting out, which isn't as interesting, at least not the way it was presented here...
I felt like I needed to understand him better, or at least feel his pain more strongly, in order to go allow willingly with the second half of the film - but the movie wanted to be about ALL of its characters equally, and I think this approach caused all of them to miss out on the level of focus and depth that they deserved, and then the film climaxes with plot turns that are discouragingly predictible, plus a misunderstading/deception (straight out of WEST SIDE STORY) about the supposed death of a character, followed by an ending which resolves the themes of conflict and morality in the film in so facile and bland a fashion, it's as if they were never a concern to the characters (or the film-makers) at all...
I guess it's possible that the kind of 'morality-play' genre that this film belongs to may just not be my cup of tea, because I felt like it was dragging me along like a dog on a leash, not the kind of experience I like to have in the cinema...
"In your eyes, the light, the heat; in your eyes, I am complete"- Peter Gabriel
For that last post I think that you have to live in Denmark/Scandinavia...Said so, It wouldn't require any further insight into the boys actions. His childhood is based on a cold, lonely and numb way of growing up and behind the mask he just wishes to cut free and feel that he exists in this world.
For me the movie was great all up to the point where the boy starts recovering, and everything seems to become well again. I'm not saying it's unrealistic, because it certainly isn't, but it just felt a little weak.
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And exactly WHY did Anton take decisive action against the African despot?
Come and get one in the yarbles, if ya have any yarbles - Alex DeLarge
The movie manipulates its viewers into desperately wanting the doctor and his friends to take decisive vigilante action against the African despot
I don't know if I would say "unfocused." If anything, It's very focused on exploring its (admittedly, very broad) themes. But it is definitely manipulative. Especially in the jogging scene. Here's my review: http://dasfilmblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-better-world-haevnen.html The rating may seem a little kind, but that's kind of a failing grade in my book.
shareI was on the verge of giving the film a score of 6/10, but in the end I was annoyed enough with the final act to bump it back to 5
I agree that 'unfocused' is probably the wrong word to express how I feel about the film, but I'd probably need to re-watch it to be sure of replacing it with just the right word, and life is just too short to rewatch this film
A number of good articles and writings on your blog, by the way; I'm the one who's left a few comments under the name Fat Tony
(but I have to admit, I've forgotten the jogging scene...)
"In your eyes, the light, the heat; in your eyes, I am complete"- Peter Gabriel
Thanks for the comments! So what did you think should have won the Oscar out of the five? I haven't seen Dogtooth, but it seems like a lot of people liked it. As it is, I'd go with Biutiful. It piles on the misery like no other, but Bardem is great, and I like/feel bad for Innaritu. He's passionate, exuberant, and ambitious (and a very cheerful guy in interviews) but critics just trash his movies nowadays. Actually, looking back most of these movies have a lot of ridiculousness in them: [spoilers] a factory full of dead Chinese workers in Biutiful, the whole he's your brother/he's your father bit in Incendies, the *shudder* jogging scene in this one. Stuff like that just doesn't sit well with me. Edit: jogging scene refers to car explosion scene, when you see the mother and child slowly heading for the car when the timer for the bomb is running out.
http://dasfilmblog.blogspot.com/
It may be interesting in a sick way (even fascinating), and undeniably provocative and daring, but I wonder: to what end? Though, if it achieved nothing else, 'Dogtooth' does linger in the memory, thanks to a hold-your-breath ending that goes unresolved - but let me put it this way: before viewing the film, I was suprised upon discovering that it had been given the highest adult classification in Australia (partly for 'high-impact themes'), and as far as half-way through the movie it still didn't seem to warrant an 18+ restriction...but by the end of the film I felt like it was the equivalent of a filthy dog licking me all over in places where it had no right to, and I wanted to say (in fact, I think I DID say, out loud) "Ugh, get away from me!"
Maybe, to most viewers, those are exactly the reasons why 'Dogtooth' deserved to win the Oscar, but I'll just say that it's different from anything else you're likely to see this year, and that this is, in some ways, a good thing!
and my favourite of the 5, by a narrow margin, is Biutiful as well Flawed and overstuffed, maybe, but really affecting and powerful despite all that, with some tremendous imagery and sublime acting and simply lovely cinema, even through the unlovely surroundings and situations; how can a film be depressing when it's filled with so much texture and striving and compassion and observation and, ultimately, hope...?
"In your eyes, the light, the heat; in your eyes, I am complete"- Peter Gabriel
Haha. Dogtooth definitely sounds like something. Exactly how I feel about Biutiful. Actually, I didn't find it depressing at all, despite the cancer, factory deaths, marital disputes etc... It's too rich and beautiful for that. Plus, Bardem inspires a lot of confidence.
http://dasfilmblog.blogspot.com/
All of you need to watch French Canada's "Incendies". That's what should have won.
share(except Dogtooth, which didn't make it to Oz cinema screens at all, as far as I know)
For me, Incendies (is it or is it not translatable as 'Scorched'? I would have thought it needed a real title for international release, since it lacks any well-known actors to draw audiences; ah well, I digress...) - it's neck-and-neck with Biutiful in terms of quality, and maybe its script is better, or at least tidier - but perhaps that was the problem for me: it felt a bit TOO tidy, and the film in general seemed to sag noticeably for a while just before the final horrifying revelation; for much of its length, I really thought Incendies was going to be the full-fledged bulls-eye that I'd been hoping for out of the nominees, but in the end, it's a 7/10 from me, the same as I give Biutiful, but if I have to pick one, Injarritu's film left me with more of a feeling of hope in the depths of its misery...
"In your eyes, the light, the heat; in your eyes, I am complete"- Peter Gabriel
Just saw In a Better World today, and while it was better than Biutiful, it should have, in no way, beaten Dogtooth for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. I loved the cinematography, and the boys were stellar, but the film was weak and heavy handed, and the message was no different than an after school special or Davey and Goliath cartoon. Violence is bad. It happens everywhere.
It's a shame really, because I happen to think Susanne Bier is quite a talented director, but this film was her weakest. But of course it wins, there was no way the Academy was going to award Best Foreign Film to a movie that was disturbing, funny, and ambiguous in its climax. I'm just glad Dogtooth wasn't beaten by Biutiful, that would have been ludicrous.
I'm just really curious to know why people seem to love (or at least admire) this film so much...
and the idea of Biutiful winning may have been ludicrous to you on an artistic level, but on a purely practical and pragmatic level, the idea of Dogtooth winning is surely the most ludicrous in Oscar history, right? I like the way one of the Slant writers put it, that they fully expect Dogtooth to come in fifth like no nominee has ever come in fifth before!
"In your eyes, the light, the heat; in your eyes, I am complete"- Peter Gabriel
I can see the point of view that Dogtooth was brilliant. Actually, it probably is. But I found watching it more and more torturous and repulsive so I chickened out and turned it off halfway through. Part of me thinks I ought to go back and finish it, that it is a personal failing of mine that I was not mature or sophisticated enough to watch it as an allegory about fascism or whatever. But every time I think of going back to it I feel a shudder of dread and I stop. I suppose if it had that strong an effect that argues for its deserving the Oscar.
shareLol thats funny that you guys say Incendies should a won. I'm on a foreign movie binge and i just watched that before this LOL. Incendies was good but it kind of reminded me of Oldboy towards the end.
I think both of them are on paar.
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The father who refused to telephone the police set his grieving son up to be a vigilante and the son to involve his new bullied friend as an accomplice. The actors, particlarly the two youngsters were superb but I could not sit through this dreary exercise in poor parenting.
share