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Dogville (2003)

Friday, April 10, 2009

Dogville. Feature film. (2003, 177 mins) IMDB

...it'd be hard to point out another film that is this different...

A

play made into a film complete with a stage set except this film was never a play. It was written directly for film. Go figure.

From Lauren Becall to Patricia Clarkson to Nicole Kidman, there is a large, large cast with familiar faces. Too many to count.

All that and it's one of the strangest films I've ever seen without any question.

The film was shot in Sweden but it could have been shot in any country that has a large building with open spaces. Imagine a football field under a roof.

How this film was ever made with this cast amazes me.

I read Bettany didn't want to work in the film but changed his mind when his friend Stellan Skarsgård, who has worked with director Von Tier before, told him it would be fun. Half-way during the shooting, Bettany asked when the fun would begin. Skarsgård had lied to him in order to get him involved. I can relate. I read the DVD synopsis of this film without knowing anything more. I was duped as well.

I'm not sure what else to say about this film because it reminds me of a Beckett play with a plot yet the story line in this film is surreal and Beckett would have been a whole lot better. Maybe that's the point. The entire film seems surreal. From the one set used in this film (imagine a film, and three hours no less, with just one set) to a large cast who at the end of shooting wonder what to do that evening in Sweden.

See. I'm talking so much about things outside of the film I obviously didn't think much of it and I don't.

Hey. I lived and worked in Sweden. I've been to Denmark a number of times. I have nothing against them, but I didn't like this film. Baby Zeus, I tried.

Posted 2009/04/10 at 20h14ET in Movie Commentary.

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