Manderlay

Lars von Trier is a person who will fill articles not only with how controversial his films are but also with how controversial he himself is. There's no point in going into his scandals; let's focus on his work. Manderlay is the second film in the intended American trilogy. I haven't seen the first film, Dogville, which is certainly a mistake, but I will catch up on it sometime. Definitely. It's not that Manderlay dazzled me that much, but one must admit that when this Danish madman decides to make a film in a certain form, he sticks to that form meticulously. You can't tell if Manderlay is a film or a play. There are no exteriors; everything takes place on a stage that is essentially a city, a house, a driveway. On the white floor, there are some boundaries that separate different locations. The sets are minimal, and instead of watching the famous activation of an irrigation system, we see no water flowing. To simplify things, pantomime is used, for example, when opening doors. It’s quite interesting for a while. Otherwise, the film has other aspects of Trier's work that gradually become tedious. An open sexual scene is also present here, and we see quite a lot of Bryce Dallas Howard. I almost get the feeling that some of Trier's fans admire the director mainly because he undresses beautiful actresses. I'm not exactly a fan of the Danish rebel, but I have to say that his films can make an impression. If he was trying to address the racial question in this case, he should probably have left it to those more qualified. (01/03/2013)

A brutal screenwriting construct whose dialogue rustles the paper so badly that it nearly drove me away from the monitor. Whereas Dogville herded its concept through a distinctive main character, Grace here (played by the unimpressive Howard – incidentally, she must have been crammed to the gills with hormones in Spider-Man 3, otherwise it's hard to explain her C's there, but that's just the comment of my internal cinephile) takes a back seat to collective events, but Trier was unable to causally catch hold of them in a way that didn't sound like mere preaching. What’s more, he no longer makes practical use of the theatrical form for narrative, which was one of the strongest centers of gravity of his previous opus. Sure, Manderlay is an intelligent film, but perhaps the thing that gets to you the most is that Trier is, with all due respect, a crappy storyteller, and that's rubbed in your face disproportionately often in this film. So I'm glad he's now abandoned this trilogy and gone back to cutting clitoris and throwing alien planets at the globe again, even though there will probably never be another Europa trilogy. P.S. I apologize for terms like construct, causality, narrative, and Spider-Man 3. (06/11/2012)

It’s a shame that Nicole Kidman was replaced with the unconvincing Bryce Dallas Howard, otherwise Lars carries on successfully with what he started in Dogville: smugly adjusting the mirror to everyone. I’m not sure whether Manderlay is an expression of cynicism, insight, humour, sincere hatred, or maybe everything together. Each will have to come to their own conclusion. (01/06/2011)

It leaves a bit too much to be desired. Knocking on invisible doors does not impress, the voting despite the reverse functioning too much evokes Dogville, and yet Lars von Trier still indulges in form. Apart from that, the main heroine is younger due to casting reshuffling, which not only does not match the plot sequence, but also causes a drop in terms of acting quality. My beloved Bryce Dallas Howard usually functions as a magical creature in most of the films she appears in, but for the artistic-dramatic actress role, something is simply missing. Therefore, I missed the perfect Nicole Kidman and her absolute acting even more, as it would significantly help this biting story. Dogville suffocated, while Manderlay intentionally spreads various problems, puts Grace in new and yet similar situations, and thus loses potential credibility. The expected dose of animal controversy does not help. (11/01/2008)

Anyone who has already seen Dogville, will not be surprised by this sequel to Grace's story as she travels across the United States, let alone shocked by it, but it is necessary to remind those who are unfamiliar that this work by the cult director is far from a regular film. It is greatly influenced by theater and transformed into a television production. The director has reduced his experimental tastes compared to his first film, so Manderlay is less abstract than Dogville, and it is simply classical theater without avant-garde mannerisms. This time, Lars von Trier unfolds his story around a community of African Americans living in conditions of actual slavery in the American South, which was abolished in the USA over 70 years ago. The idealistic Grace continues her conflict with her down-to-earth, gangster father and attempts to create a well-functioning community in the settlement of Manderlay that works regardless of skin color and origin. But, as things tend to go, ideals suffer many scars when confronted with reality. I missed not having Nicole Kidman in the film, and although Bryce Dallas Howard is definitely not bad, she seemed to me less remarkable than her predecessor. Otherwise, it is a densely thought-provoking film, where the philosophical foundation and provocative dialogues represent the greatest advantage of von Trier's film. Although it is primarily directed toward criticism of racism, the story it tells and its symbolism can be applied not only to the fate of the black minority but also to the entire post-colonial Africa. A slave does not cease to be a slave just because they receive formal freedom, but by having the courage and opportunities to stop being a slave. After all, in the 70 years since the story takes place, the black minority in the USA has achieved many successes and its elites have become wealthy, but a significant portion of the black community still remains in ghettos, and that is by far not only a problem of racist laws or the adversity of the majority society. It is a problem of lack of will and giving in to one's own comfort. Overall impression: 90%. (21/06/2010)