After months of anticipation, "Antichrist" came to Indianapolis this weekend. When you have a film built up so much in your head before you see it, it's difficult for the film to live up to your expectations. However, when a film is frame-by-frame art, how can it let you down? I've seen most of Lars von Trier's movies, and been blown away by the majority, and it's amazing that he can continue to make movies that make even his most loyal and eager fans drop their jaws in awe. The casual viewer--not that anyone would casually go see a movie called "Antichrist" that is filled with violence, sex, and talking--would have a difficult time looking past the misogyny. But when the misogyny is a primary focus that is shoved in your face (literally), it moves beyond mere woman-bashing (though it is far from empowering.) After all, aren't the true misogynists writing James Bond or Meg Ryan flicks? While "Antichrist" definately isn't intended for mass consumption, it's the most amazing film-making I've seen in years. It continues to play in my head obsessively and refuses to make room for any of my other thoughts. Thankfully. I can't even come up with a song lyric for a title.Monday, December 14, 2009
untitled
After months of anticipation, "Antichrist" came to Indianapolis this weekend. When you have a film built up so much in your head before you see it, it's difficult for the film to live up to your expectations. However, when a film is frame-by-frame art, how can it let you down? I've seen most of Lars von Trier's movies, and been blown away by the majority, and it's amazing that he can continue to make movies that make even his most loyal and eager fans drop their jaws in awe. The casual viewer--not that anyone would casually go see a movie called "Antichrist" that is filled with violence, sex, and talking--would have a difficult time looking past the misogyny. But when the misogyny is a primary focus that is shoved in your face (literally), it moves beyond mere woman-bashing (though it is far from empowering.) After all, aren't the true misogynists writing James Bond or Meg Ryan flicks? While "Antichrist" definately isn't intended for mass consumption, it's the most amazing film-making I've seen in years. It continues to play in my head obsessively and refuses to make room for any of my other thoughts. Thankfully. I can't even come up with a song lyric for a title.
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2 comments:
Without having seen it, it sounds like this movie at least allows for a debate about misogyny. The more commonplace and everyday misogyny just goes unnoticed and unchallenged.
And I'm sure you could have come up with a topical song lyrics if only you started listening to Slayer. Or certain kinds of rap music.
There were two reasons for leaving the entry untitled: 1) I didn't want to think of anything but the movie, and 2) I was being dramatic. I did try to come up with a title today for it though, though I won't post the title in the actual title section, merely in this comment. After all, I do love titles. And I noticed you used another song lyric today! Since I already used the Peaches song "Fuck the Pain Away" as a title before (it was an obvious choice anyway), I next turned to several lyrics from Tori Amos' "Silent All These Years," a somewhat-feminist song that makes a more provacative choice anyway. But which lyric? The phophetic "I got the antichrist in the kitchen yelling at me again"? No, I prefer the taken-out-of-context "boy, you best pray that I bleed real soon." I think it works.
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