Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist”
From Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, whose previous efforts include hanging Björk and pimping Nichole Kidman, comes Antichrist starring Willem DeFoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. IMDB’s synopsis runs thusly: “A grieving couple retreats to their cabin ‘Eden’ in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.” So it seems that a couple had a child, who died. Overcome with grief the mother succumbs to the overuse of mood-altering prescription drugs. Seeing their marriage falling apart the husband convinces her to get rid of them and join him in their cabin in the middle of the woods. There, crazy shit occurs.
To be honest I’m quite unsure as to this latest effort from von Trier. The idea that he would feel the need to make a genre film of this sort is a strange one. After all, the man has been making horror movies in one form or another his entire career, and the instances where he has succumbed to the need for traditional horror have been tedious affairs (see The Kingdom). It could merely be that von Trier wants to join the ranks of directors who have filmed sex scenes featuring Willem DeFoe.
Still, a von Trier/DeFoe pairing, in spite of the aforementioned Gollum-esque sex scene, is intriguing and lately I’ve been feeling perhaps a bit too upbeat so a dose of unyielding, soul crushing angst would probably go a long way in bringing me down a few pegs.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:11 am
The Kingdom? Tedious, really?
While I agree that he’s been doing horror of one kind or another his whole career, I for one welcome his return to supernatural themes. And DeFoe on Girl on Tree action.
May 9th, 2009 at 4:58 am
Anyone else amused that the guy who arguably got a large chunk of his initial exposure from ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ (Defoe, 1988) is now dealing with the Antichrist, courtesy of Von Trier?
May 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
All we needed was a good old recession to finally bring back dark horror. Take that optimism! It brings me a grin to my face when I see directors return to their roots. I really enjoyed “The Kingdom” and disagree that it was tedious. Good horror and ghost stories are all about the slow build up to a horrible climax. You can’t just jump into the action. You have to show reality slowly succumb to unreality. Think of the fiction of Lovecraft or Ligotti. It all pays off in the end. That’s how I felt after having seen “The Kingdom.” Now, “Antichrist” does look a little cliche and the use of shaky-cam doesn’t sit too well with me either, since Shaky-cam is a terrible attempt at making scenes seem more real and action packed when usually the opposite is true. But…the stark images of wild animals, wind blown trees, and that eerie soundtrack, give me great hope that this film will be quite good.
May 12th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Looks like Cabin fever.
May 13th, 2009 at 8:28 am
The Kingdom is one of the most bizarre and fabulous things I have ever seen. Come on, did you watch the second series? That certainly skipped out on “traditional”, even if you are weird enough to consider it tedious. It is one of the greater tragedies in a world full of tragedy that everyone’s bloody dead now and there will never be a third. *Sigh*…
May 13th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Hey guys. I don’t believe I watched the second season of The Kingdom, but based on my viewing of the first I stick by my assertions regarding tedium. To me it felt like watching a very slow soap opera in which occasionally something odd would happen, then Udo Kier shows up.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:01 am
It was a good movie, but it looked better visually than the story if that makes any sense. It was so well done but the plot dragged it down a little at points. When you see the movie you’ll understand what I mean.