---

Just curious.

---

"Angst!" <Angst.Boy@Home.com> wrote in message
news:Y_lh7.637501$K5.67850718@news1.rdc1.nj.home.com...
>
> Just curious.

Most people think of him as pretty excentric. But people mostly love his
movies, although there are many who hates them for being too weird, violent
or emotional challenging. Personally I really like his movies - especially
Dancer in the Dark.

--
mvh
Mikkel Selsøe Sørensen

---

On Fri, 24 Aug 2001 05:55:04 GMT, "Angst!" <Angst.Boy@Home.com> wrote:

>
>Just curious.
>
Well, in my oppinion, he's a few cards short of a full deck and
so far he hasn't produced anything worth watching.

Just my 5 cents worth

---

"Angst!" <Angst.Boy@Home.com
> Just curious.

A lot of us like him very much because he's made some great films.
I'd say most Danes are sort of proud that he and others have made
Denmark into an internationally respected country within film.
But as others have said he's also kind of odd and excentric, and
some people think ill of him as a result.


--
Peter Brandt Nielsen
http://brandtnielsen.adr.dk

---

Here's a little gossip about Lars von Trier:

When he was still in training at the Danish Film Academy, Lars Trier was
high and flying in his own talent. Most of the other students looked to his
side, for what I understand. So much that his teacher one day in the middle
of a debate turned to him and said:
"And now perhaps Mr. Lars VON Trier would give his oppinion on the matter?"
The name stuck to him.

LvT is horribly paranoid, with anixietes of of planes and the likes. When
travelling to ex. Cannes, he packs up his mobile home, because he trust no
one with his security. His private car is fitted with children seats in the
trunk, to minimize fatals for his kids in case of a frontal crash.

Like James Cameroun, he is a devil to work for; he cares only for his
project and not for the obsticles that comes in the way. Whenever an
employee comes up to him with a problem, he usually says: "Not my concern.
Fix it."

---
In short, he's weird. Most Danish people has a great deal of respect for him
as a film maker, and his exentricities are obviously a method to achieve the
work he does. He's totally into film making, and nothing else matters for
him. He has his dreams (or nightmares) that he has to bring to the rest of
us.

Personally, I don't understand all his work, especially 'The Idiots' are
lost for me. Others like 'The Kingdom', 'Europa', Breaking the waves',
'Dancer...', etc. are, to use a torn expression, brilliant. When I see his
work, I compare him with both Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. As with
them all, there is a thin line between being a maniac and a genius.

Hope you understand,
Chris

Angst! <Angst.Boy@Home.com> skrev i en
nyhedsmeddelelse:Y_lh7.637501$K5.67850718@news1.rdc1.nj.home.com...
>
> Just curious.
>
>
>

---

On Fri, 24 Aug 2001 22:00:48 +0200, "C.H.Engelbrecht"
<chrisengeldk@dkik.dk> wrote:

>Like James Cameroun, he is a devil to work for; he cares only for his
>project and not for the obsticles that comes in the way. Whenever an
>employee comes up to him with a problem, he usually says: "Not my concern.
>Fix it."

On the other hand, I have heard from people who have actually worked
with him on a couple of different projects, that he is much more
structured than a bunch of typical project supervisors, regarding the
project management.

--
- Peter Brodersen

---

Thanx to everyone that responded.

"C.H.Engelbrecht" <chrisengeldk@dkik.dk>

> Here's a little gossip about Lars von Trier:
....
> LvT is horribly paranoid
....
> he is a devil to work for
....
> In short, he's weird.

That's basically what i've heard, & the impression that
i've gotten. He also gives off vibes of being quite the
megalomaniac.

> Most Danish people has a great deal of respect for him

That's cool. And, FWIW, i do think he has helped to, um,
"internationalize" Denmark quite a bit, at least here in
the States. But, to be totally honest, i don't think he
would've had nearly the press he's had (again, at least
here in the States) if Björk hadn't been attached to his
last film.

He was already known to a very small degree in the "indie"
world, but i dare say only to a small degree. It was the
press of "Dancer", due to Björk, that really got him out
of the "hardcore indie" world, and into the more, um,
(as oxymoronic as this sounds) "mainstream indie" world.

That's my impression, anyway.

And now that Stephen King is doing an American version of
Riget, i suspect it's a safe bet that there will be even
more of an interest in LvT, & Denmark, in the near future.

(i was telling my Danish "friend" that, "i don't think it's
just me... i really think that Americans are becoming more
interested in 'things Danish'... Weird, for once i feel
like i'm *ahead* of the trend!" To which she deadpanned,
"And just think how lucky you are that you got the best
girl before anyone else could." You Danes...)

> Personally, I don't understand all his work, especially
> 'The Idiots' are lost for me.

i didn't see that yet (i will), but it looks fairly horrible.

> Others like 'The Kingdom', 'Europa', Breaking the waves',
> 'Dancer...', etc. are, to use a torn expression, brilliant.

i just saw Kingdom 1 & 2 last week in one of our coolest
arthouse theaters. (yeah, 4 1/2 hours each night ...)

i liked them alot, esp. Kingdom 1. Unfortunately, Kingdom 2
suffered from alot of problems, everything from an utterly
horrible English transcription, to dangling plot lines that
rival even The X-Files!

E.g. just who & what the hell were those robed, Satan wor-
shippers way under the hospital? It's like the main
characters run into them... & then that's it. They move
on. i'm like "Hello! There's Devil worshippers under
the hospital! Do something about that!" It was never
adequately resolved, AFAIC.

Also, the transcription was totally missing for LvT's
little speech at the end of the 2 parts for Kingdom 2.
(but if his speeches were anything like the ones after
Kingdom 1, then i should probably be glad...)

But to reiterate, i did like Riget 1 & 2 very much.

Plus, i've heard nothing but great things about Zentropa
& Element of Crime, both of which i now own but haven't
watched yet (i'm waiting 'til i get my new DVD player).

....

"Dancer", OTOH, well ... how can i say ... *sigh*

i can't say, 'cause i'm only going to start ranting.

Let's just say that, even though it starred the Icelandic
goddess herself, & even though she was the only remotely
redeeming aspect to the entire film, IMO, i still thought
that, on the whole, "Dancer" was a horrible, horrible,
*horrible* piece of work & utter waste of my time.

Sorry. That's just my opinion.

While a few women wept openly near me, i was looking
around in amazement going "What??? *That* was sad???
Hey, i cried when Bambi's mom got shot... but *this*???
*You*, what are you crying at? Stop it! You actually
thought that was realistic?? How could you be crying
at something that farfetched??!"

The whole story, particularly the ending, was so totally
& completely implausible that i couldn't suspend my dis-
belief. In fact, i found myself committing the heresy
of hoping that they'd hurry up & kill Björk already ...
before she was allowed to (god!) bust into another song!

(can you tell i'm getting riled up again?)

Anyway, the "Dancer" experience hasn't turned me off
to LvT. i realize that all directors make big, smelly
stinkers along w/ their masterpieces.

(speaking of "stinkers", i still find myself laughing
at the "floater" scenes from Riget 2!)

> When I see his work, I compare him with both Alfred
> Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick.

Well, i'll have to reserve that judgment until i've
finished watching all of his stuff.

FWIW, out of the few Dogme films i've seen, so far,
my favorite is still the non-LvT "Mifune".

> As with them all, there is a thin line between being
> a maniac and a genius.

i wholeheartedly agree with that.

Take care.

p.s. i just realized that not everyone might understand
IMO, FYI, FWIW, OTOH, AFAIC ... ah, figure it out.

---

"Angst!" <Angst.Boy@Home.com> writes:

> E.g. just who & what the hell were those robed, Satan wor-
> shippers way under the hospital? It's like the main
> characters run into them... & then that's it. They move
> on. i'm like "Hello! There's Devil worshippers under
> the hospital! Do something about that!" It was never
> adequately resolved, AFAIC.

I think that's exactly the point _not_ to resolve everything. The
Kingdom seems pretty much to have been considered a weird experiment
by Trier.

[Dancer]
> The whole story, particularly the ending, was so totally
> & completely implausible that i couldn't suspend my dis-
> belief. In fact, i found myself committing the heresy
> of hoping that they'd hurry up & kill Björk already ...
> before she was allowed to (god!) bust into another song!

That's how things are with musicals. I think the grand idea was to
make a dark and horrible musical as a contrast to the
happy-go-luckiness of "Sound of Music" and "Singing in the rain".

I liked it a lot, but I am not sure I am going to watch it again
anytime soon, although I do own the DVD. It was somehow hard to watch.

> FWIW, out of the few Dogme films i've seen, so far,
> my favorite is still the non-LvT "Mifune".

Mifune is very much a light movie. "The Celebration" is definitely my
favourite amongst the Dogme films, with "Mifune" a close second.

"The Idiots" is special and can't really compare to the other (danish)
Dogme films. I consider it a vague remake of Bille August's "Zappa",
as both movies deals with charismatic, rich, spoiled kids and their
inability to take up the confrontation with their parents and the
society, so they "hire" others to take the confrontation for them.

(Essentially Stoffer in The Idiots play the same part as Steen in
Zappa, and "Steen & Stoffer" is the danish title of Watterson's strip
"Calvin & Hobbes". I believe that is a hint from Trier...)

--
Peter B. Juul, o.-.o When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think
The RockBear. ((^)) of Things, you sometimes find that a Thing which seemed
I speak only 0}._.{0 very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets
for myself. O/ \O out into the open and has other people looking at it.

---

"Peter B. Juul" <pbj1@enzym.rnd.uni-c.dk>
> "The Idiots" is special and can't really compare to the other (danish)
> Dogme films. I consider it a vague remake of Bille August's "Zappa",
> as both movies deals with charismatic, rich, spoiled kids and their
> inability to take up the confrontation with their parents and the
> society, so they "hire" others to take the confrontation for them.
>
> (Essentially Stoffer in The Idiots play the same part as Steen in
> Zappa, and "Steen & Stoffer" is the danish title of Watterson's strip
> "Calvin & Hobbes". I believe that is a hint from Trier...)

How clever. I'll keep it in mind if I should ever watch both films
again - which is, though, not at all for certain regarding Idioterne.


--
Peter Brandt Nielsen
http://brandtnielsen.adr.dk

---

"Angst!" wrote:

> E.g. just who & what the hell were those robed, Satan wor-
> shippers way under the hospital? It's like the main
> characters run into them... & then that's it. They move
> on. i'm like "Hello! There's Devil worshippers under
> the hospital! Do something about that!" It was never
> adequately resolved, AFAIC.

It might have been because "The Kingdom" originally was planned as a
trilogy. I wonder if they'll ever come around to making the third part.
Anyway I doubt it since the actor who played swedish doctor (Don't
remember his name) past away. Another interesting question might be if
The Kingdom ever will be released on DVD.
Best regards
Lars Hoffmann

---

Lars Hoffmann <lars@hoffmann.ac> writes:

> It might have been because "The Kingdom" originally was planned as a
> trilogy. I wonder if they'll ever come around to making the third part.
> Anyway I doubt it since the actor who played swedish doctor (Don't
> remember his name)

Ernst-Hugo Järegaard.

> past away.

Since Kirsten Rolffes has also died and Trier has lost interest
chances are indeed slim.

--
Peter B. Juul, o.-.o "Fra nu af er I ikke længere mine kloner.
The RockBear. ((^)) I er mine fætre.
I speak only 0}._.{0 Og så åbner vi en grønthandel."
for myself. O/ \O

---

"Lars Hoffmann" <lars@hoffmann.ac>
> It might have been because "The Kingdom" originally was planned as a
> trilogy. I wonder if they'll ever come around to making the third part.
> Anyway I doubt it since the actor who played swedish doctor (Don't
> remember his name) past away.

Actor's name Ernst-Hugo Järegaard. Played dr. Helmer.


--
Peter Brandt Nielsen
http://brandtnielsen.adr.dk

---

Lars Hoffmann:

> It might have been because "The Kingdom" originally was planned
> as a trilogy. I wonder if they'll ever come around to making the
> third part. Anyway I doubt it since the actor who played swedish
> doctor (Don't remember his name) past away.

If von Trier can make a woman give birth to a full-grown man, i'm
sure he can figure out a way to "explain" why the Swedish doctor
now looks totally different...

.... maybe a voodoo thing ...
.... maybe a plastic surgery thing, 'cause he was avoiding the law ...
.... maybe he ends up dying from that bullet wound & his "spirit"
immediately possesses someone else ...
.... maybe he yells "Danish scum!" one time too many & Holger Danske
wakes up & beats the shit out of him, forcing him to get a
horrible reconstructive surgery ...

(what? as if these are more implausible than most of the things
von Trier threw at us...)

---

"Angst!" wrote:

> If von Trier can make a woman give birth to a full-grown man, i'm
> sure he can figure out a way to "explain" why the Swedish doctor
> now looks totally different...

It's just not /danish/ enough