Dancer In The Dark (2000/Region Four/4/PAL Import/Madman DVD)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C
Feature: C
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on
machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Four/4 PAL format
software and can be ordered from our friends at Madman Entertainment at the
website address provided at the end of the review. Cover image © 2004 Strength Limited Production.
The Dogme
movement on videotape (analog, mind you) has been one of the biggest shams of
all time, led by the highly overrated and always tired Lars von Trier. Dancer
In The Dark (2000) was his attempt to deconstruct the Hollywood Musical and
anything Hollywood as Dogme thought it was doing with its low-def degraded,
images, lack of credits and overly shaky camerawork. Singer Bjork stars as a young oppressed lady
who wants to maybe break out of her unhappiness and might get the chance.
The
opening has her on stage doing a song from Sound
Of Music (intended to be ironic, but that does not work either) and has
cast Catherine Deneuve (Umbrellas Of
Cherbourg) and Joel Grey (Cabaret)
in an attempt to signify the stage and deconstruction, but it is in vein as the
this goes on and on and on (as all Trier projects do) without any point for 140
minutes!
I
expected more, but only when Bjork sings does this work and that is not enough,
plus the shots of her performance look like outtakes. Peter Stormare, David Morse, Siobhan Fallon,
Zeljko Ivanek and Udo Kier also star, but they cannot save this from its pretensions
either.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is shot on low
def video like all the Dogme disasters and this has aged very badly, loaded
with motion blur, bad color, haloing and a camera that cannot stop
shaking. It cannot even get the framing
right. Doing a scope frame this way
makes it worse, something already a problem with HD trying to do the same. The
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is also weak and is really stretching out what is too
often monophonic and bad location sound.
Extras include stills, text bios, audio commentary and Von Trier’s “100
Eyes” documentary that is just as inept.
As noted
above, you can order this PAL DVD import exclusively from Madman at:
https://www.madman.com.au/actions/channel.do?method=view
-
Nicholas Sheffo
