Days of joy, days of sadness ... ever free...

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

well, just finished watching dogville on artscentral. the film is so jarring that i cant help but do this immediately (well, its 1am and i havent bathed, and i'm supposed to be studying, and i have school at 9am tmr, and i actually got only an hours' sleep last nite - lots of other things to do) and ya, the film is so... i dunno... read the story first...

This is the sad tale of the township of Dogville, in the Rocky Mountains, up where the road came to its definitive end near the entrance to the abandoned silver mine. The residents of Dogville were good, honest folk and they liked their town. The house in which Tom (Paul Bettany) lived was the best ?in good times it might almost have passed for presentable. Tom抯 father (Phillip Baker Hall) had been a doctor and now received a modest pension. Tom was a writer, but in order to postpone the day when he would have to put pen to paper in earnest, he had come up with a series of town meetings on the subject of moral rearmament.Every evening at seven, when Martha (Siobhan Fallon) chimed the hour, Tom headed to the Henson home in order to inflict upon his childhood friend Bill (Jeremy Davies) yet another humiliating defeat at checkers. Some folks might say the opportunity to meet Bill抯 older sister Liz (Chloe Sevigny) was more of a draw than the checkerboard and they might be right. That night as Tom strolled home through Elm Street (a sentimental soul from the East Coast had once dubbed their main street 揈lm Street?though no Elm tree had ever cast its shadow in Dogville) he heard gun shots in the valley below. Tom sat down on the old lady抯 bench to think but was roused from this activity by the sound of Moses barking, as if the dog were standing face to face with a force to be taken seriously. Her name was Grace (Nicole Kidman). She hadn抰 chosen Dogville from a map or sought out the township for a visit but Tom felt right away that she belonged. When a carload of armed men arrived in pursuit of the beautiful fugitive, Tom hid her away and told the gangsters that he had seen nothing out of the ordinary.At the town meeting the following day, Tom provided a quick summary of the events of the previous evening to the astonished people of Dogville before going down to the mine to retrieve the fugitive from her hideaway. It was decided that Grace would be allowed to stay for two weeks.In order to win the trust of the townsfolk, Tom proposed that Grace be put to work. Although everyone protested that they did not need any help, Tom was certain that Grace抯 services would soon be in demand. However, Grace抯 interview with Jack McKay (Ben Gazzara) proved sadly symptomatic of the attitude of the good people of Dogville. Jack had expressed his 憂o?concisely and precisely. With Tom抯 encouragement, Ma Ginger (Lauren Bacall) grudgingly allowed Grace to tend to the wild gooseberry bushes behind her general store. Grace persisted and slowly but surely, all of the residents of Dogville found they had some work for her after all. It was in complete silence that the people of Dogville turned up for the meeting at the mission house - two weeks to the day that the beautiful fugitive had come to town. Grace was sent out to await the verdict of the townsfolk. She listened as the bell chimed once for each vote allowing her to stay. Spring and early summer proved a happy time for Grace. The town had agreed that everyone was to give according to his abilities and she received wages for her chores - not much, but enough to save up for the first of the tiny china figurines from the row of seven that had stood for so long gathering dust in the window of the store. At the annual Fourth of July picnic, Grace and Tom shyly declared their love for one another. One day, when Grace was in the orchard helping Chuck (Stellan Skarsgaard) the police came to Dogville and put up a wanted poster. That the gangsters had fixed to have charges made against Grace in their efforts to neutralize her came as no surprise. But Dogville began to bare its teeth.Suddenly, Grace was working all hours. She was scolded by Ma Ginger for taking a shortcut through the gooseberry bushes. Jack McKay allowed his hand to linger on her thigh; Chuck took advantage of her in the apple orchard. Chuck and Vera抯 boy, Jason, demanded a spanking from poor Grace and having received his punishment, promptly betrayed her. But Grace had finally saved up enough money to purchase the last of the little china figurines in Ma Ginger抯 window.Vera (Patricia Clarkson), Liz and Martha visited Grace to air their grievances against her. Grace was restrained by Liz and Martha as Vera smashed each and every one of Grace抯 beloved, hard-won china figurines. Tom persuaded Grace that she should escape from Dogville with the help of the simple trucker, Ben (Zelko Ivanec). Instead of taking Grace down the mountain, Ben took advantage of her in the back of his truck and returned to Dogville with the fugitive hidden under a tarp. Grace抯 plan to escape was exposed and Tom did not come to her defense when it was discovered that Tom Edison Sr.抯 considerable stash of money had disappeared. The good people of Dogville decided to prevent her running away again and Grace was attached by Moses?collar to a rusty old flywheel that she dragged behind her on a heavy chain. With the exception of Tom who bitterly denied himself, all the menfolk of Dogville now took to visiting Grace at night and forcing themselves on her. Tom saw everything and it pained him. Another town meeting was convened and Grace told her side of the story, simply and without embellishment. But the townsfolk were not receptive to her argument and Tom, fearing that he too might be driven out of their good favor if he continued in his support of Grace, took drastic measures. Before returning to the meeting that night, Tom opened the little drawer he hadn抰 opened since the night of Grace抯 arrival, took out the gangster抯 card and made a telephone call. And then it was as if Dogville just waited. Even the wind dropped, leaving the town in an unfamiliar calm. From the moment when they抎 finally heard the vehicles starting one after the other from the direction of the edge of the woods, things moved rapidly. Tom had arranged a delegation to provide a proper reception. Dogville might be off the beaten track but it was hospitable nevertheless. As for Grace, well, she was no expert in exclusive automobiles, but she recognized with no difficulty the purr of the Cadillac as it rounded the corner and made its way into the township of Dogville?/span

well, turns out tt she was the daughter of the gangster who was after her. She had wanted to stay in Dogville, but when she came out her her father's car, she realised how ugly the town and the people really really was. And she ordered her men to kill them all. Wanted to make the world a better place. "There are some things that you have to do yourself", she said. She killed Tom herself.

I dunno what else to say. I don't really know what the movie is saying also. But well, it's an interesting movie. See a review that i've found... quite aptly describe wat i feel, i must say. well, i can't express my own feelings well...

'Dogville' a powerful drama about American selfishness
Review
Dogville (***1/2). Rated R for violence and sexual content. Starring Nicole Kidman. Written and directed by Lars von Trier. 177 minutes. Playing at El Con and Catalina.

•
• Printer friendly version
•
Nicole Kidman vulnerable as fugitive hiding from gangsters
By Phil Villarreal
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
At first glance, "Dogville" looks so silly you start to laugh. By the end of the bold and emotionally shattering epic, that runs nearly three hours, you may be close to tears.
A raging indictment of America's historic selfishness and mob-fueled cruelty, "Dogville" lashes out its resounding lectures like a crazed but charismatic mall preacher. It's tough not to be captivated as horrors unfold in the titular Depression-era Rocky Mountain town. Through the eyes of Grace (Nicole Kidman), a fugitive who hides from gangsters in Dogville, we cringe as the unassuming townsfolk unleash their evil.
The film makes its points through an almost ridiculous stage setup, reminiscent of "Our Town." The entire film takes place on one set, and that's using the word "set" loosely.
The background is completely black, and there are are no buildings, walls or windows. Those are left to the characters to build up for the viewer's imagination. We know the town's main thoroughfare is called "Elm Street" because the words are written in chalk on the ground. Chalk outlines also define boundaries of buildings, and label the few props on the stage, such as "The Old Lady's Bench." The town has a dog, and we know this by - guess what? - another chalk outline.
The inhabitants of Dogville go about their business as though they're encased in walls, even though everyone can see inside everyone else's house at all times, although sometimes they choose not to. The presumable message: In a town this small, there are no secrets, and there may as well be no walls.
Characters knock on "doors" in pantomime, accompanied by sound effects of the knock. None of this looks remotely real or convincing, but it's amazing how quickly our minds fill in the blanks and accept "Dogville" as though it were filmed on lavish period sets.
The movie comes from Lars von Trier, the audacious Danish filmmaker who helped found the minimalist, authenticity-focused Dogma movement, whose best-known films are the confounding and experimental "Breaking the Waves" (1996) and "Dancer in the Dark" (2000).
Grace, played with tender vulnerability by Kidman, is kind and eager to please, and the residents of Dogville are quick to exploit her. Her main ally seems to be Tom (Paul Bettany), a writer whose ambition is consistently defeated by laziness. Tom is immediately in love with Grace, and he finagles a meeting to convince his dart-eyed neighbors to take Grace in. Dogville, it is decided, will give Grace two weeks to do odd jobs around everyone's household and attempt to earn her keep.
By her presence, Grace inspires envy, lust and outright hatred from the townsfolk. She is increasingly mistreated, abused and eventually enslaved. Even Tom gets into the act. Von Trier is making a parallel to American society, and his metaphors ring chillingly true.
The structure, told in a prologue and nine parts, helps keep the story moving, but the film still could have benefited from some cuts. Von Trier's points could have easily been made in half the time. You get the feeling that von Trier, up on his soapbox, couldn't find it in his heart to make some necessary cuts. He should have thrown his ego to the dogs.

and life still goes on...

Jin Xi posted at 1:00 am
0 comment | Post a Comment