Top 15 of the 2000s: #6

Well, we've come quite a ways, and now we're just outside of the Top 5. However, there's still one more before we get there, and it's a doozy. Not only is it on the obscure side (it barely made $2 million at the box office despite some big names), but it's a bit slow and runs quite long, AND it's extremely experimental. It's also a bit confusing to determine what year it was released, because it came out in different places over a stretch of time. For my own purposes, I've labeled it as the year in which it received a US release, thereby qualifying it for the Oscars it richly deserved, but never got close to obtaining. If you haven't guessed already, the #6 film on the countdown is none other than...





#6. "Dogville" (2004) by Lars Von Trier: Ask someone why he/she hates Lars Von Trier and one of the standard responses is that he's a misogynist when it comes to storytelling. His female characters often go through slow, tortuous, drawn-out Hell, before reaching an ending that's even more unpleasant. There isn't too much that's different in "Dogville", save for one aspect...but let's save that for later. Von Trier's films always straddle the thin line between art and madness, and this one is no exception, its length (3 hours) not helping matters. However, it's on my list, so obviously I have quite a few good things to say about it. First, on the issue of length, I will concede that the first 45 minutes are slow without being terribly interesting. This is the film's greatest hurdle, BUT if you can make it past that, the film does begin to become increasingly fascinating even while keeping more or less the same pace. Adding to the interest is the production as a whole. Von Trier is basically credited with starting the Dogme 95 movement, which seeks to strip down films to their bare essentials, and the ideas of Dogme 95 are without a doubt best showcased in "Dogville". Shot entirely on a soundstage, the film has no full sets, with white chalk outlines taking the place of buildings or rooms, often with labels like "Ma Ginger's Store" or "The church" or "the sage garden". There aren't even doors, requiring actors to mime the movements of knocking on or opening them while sounds play at the same time. This technique which so easily could have become annoying soon becomes seamless, because Von Trier never makes a big deal about it; it's just another part of the background. This also applies to John Hurt's brilliant, sickly-sweet, irony-soaked, narration, which despite often giving us internal glimpses into glimpses that could have been illuminated via dialogue, never feels like a cheat. In fact, Hurt, only present in voice, gives one of the best performances of the whole film. But of course there's still the issue of Von Trier's "misogyny", and for most of the movie, it might seem a bit hard to deny. Grace (Nicole Kidman), an outsider who does nothing wrong and only wants to help the townspeople to repay them for sheltering her, soon contracts "Scarlett Letter"-syndrome, and becomes subject to the wrath of people hiding under the guise of morality. She is abused mentally and physically, even becoming the town whore. At one point she is even forced to wear a chain with a hubcap at the end, so that she must drag it along everywhere she goes. And happens when people see her wearing the device? Local children sit on the hubcap and pelt her with snowballs, while their parents look on and do nothing. Throughout all of this, the entire cast is superb, with the best being Kidman, Paul Bettany, and Patricia Clarkson (who shares the film's most powerful scene with Kidman). In what I refer to as Von Trier's "Suffering Women Trilogy", Kidman perhaps gives the second best lead performance, which is high praise considering that she's in the company of outstanding work from Emily Watson and Bjork (yes, that Bjork). And for a film set on such a bare stage, I remember being impressed by the set design, cinematography, and the limited score. But of course, at the end of the day, there's still the question of misogyny, and honestly, I think the way Von Trier ends the film might be the most wickedly clever way of fighting back at those claims (at least temporarily). Once I finally realized what the film was about to do in its final minutes, I had trouble repressing a slight smile, a smile which might not have happened without such an extensive run-time around which to slowly build tension. It's too good to spoil, but I'll just end by saying that while "Dogville" may only be #6 on my list, it's certainly #1 as far as endings go.

Final Grade: A

Best Performance: Nicole Kidman AND Patricia Clarkson

Best Scene: Unfortunately, the clips I was able to find weren't available for embedding, so I've posted the trailer instead...