A Beautiful Film About The End of the World

Recently, Video on Demand, or V.O.D. if you prefer, has been slowly creeping into more and more homes and changing the distribution model for film releasing.  I mean, let's face it, now you can build a Home Theater for relatively cheap, so why leave the comfort of your living room to go to an overpriced Theater where you'll be surrounded by people eating food, texting on their cell phones, talking, and generally disrupting the film viewing experience?

I have my own reasons for why I prefer the Theater, but the number one reason I don't go as often as I would like is the ticket price.  For those of you living in towns with ticket prices under 9 dollars for general admission, I can only say, "Don't Move To LA."

But back to the point.  You may have seen on various news sites and most certainly on YouTube, that Lars von Trier does not know how to express himself, or how to make a joke.  The filmmaker, whose list of credits are undeniably short but brilliant, was banned from Cannes over some comments he made comparing himself to a Nazi during a Q/A for his recent film Melancholia.  It was announced that the film would be released to V.O.D. in October preceding his American theatrical release in November.

If Anti-Christ was inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror, I think it's safe to say that Melancholia is inspired by The Sacrifice.  The film is about a previously undiscovered planet that, for lack of a better word, has been hiding behind the sun during a massive orbit, and it's orbit is taking it dangerously close to Earth.

The film starts with a 10 minute montage of metaphorical and foreshadowing footage shot entirely with the Phantom HD camera, a camera with shoots the most intense slow motion you've ever seen.  We're talking about 4000fps, which when brought into a 24fps timeline (the typical frames per second at which films are shot), allows you to watch a single drop of water explode into millions of bits on a surface.  All this, to excerpts from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.

This film itself is very operatic, drawing heavily from the Wagner score.  We follow the grief cycles experienced in differing times of two sister, Justine, played magnificently by Kirsten Dunst, and Claire, played with reserved terror by Charlotte Gainsbourg.  A list of name actors are introduced as friends and family in the first half, only to dwindle out as we are left with our core unit of Justine, Claire, Claire's husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) and their son Leo (first and only current credit for Cameron Spurr).

The approaching Planet looms over the family, bringing out all sorts of tensions between the three adults ending in a climax that, while foreshadowed in the beginning, plays out with beauty and grace that can only be described as magnificent.

Though not a shocker like Anti-Christ, Melancholia is gorgeously shot and contains standout performances by a host of veteran and incoming talents.  I am curious to see what von Trier will do next now that he has famously stated he will no longer speak to the press.  Like many other events going on, Melancholia is set for Limited US Theatrical Release this Friday 11/11/11, an ominous date with apocalyptic entailment.  Fitting, no?

Official HD Trailer.