You know, I've never understood the Bjork bashing or the scale of hatred for this particular film; for me, it works as fairy story (the all-too convenient eye clinic in the wood as reached by a length of rope; the innocent surrounded by wolves...). I've always found it sad because of the way it reveals the gap between the musical 'where nothing bad ever happens' - as a stand-in for America's exported image around the world - and the reality of that 'American Dream' for the people who come to experience it. The actor who plays Novi in the court scene is none other than Joel Grey, who played the MC in the oscar-winning Cabaret:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRIbUT6u7Q
This is a movie that knows its musicals! The film's plot is pure melodrama - and knows it - and yet that hand-held camera aesthetic encourages us to too 'feel' it as real or 'like the world' or 'about what actually happened.' Personally, I think the film is technically amazing - the editing in particular is extraordinary. I think Bjork is perfect and compelling and I fall in love with her decency everytime - but it's Kathy - who works out the steps for her during the rehearsal - break my heart: they've got extraordinary on screen chemistry. Anyway, I think you're spot on in regard to the film expressing the 'non-representation' and exploitation of the immigrant experience etc.
Evening Chrissie,
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've never understood the Bjork bashing or the scale of hatred for this particular film; for me, it works as fairy story (the all-too convenient eye clinic in the wood as reached by a length of rope; the innocent surrounded by wolves...). I've always found it sad because of the way it reveals the gap between the musical 'where nothing bad ever happens' - as a stand-in for America's exported image around the world - and the reality of that 'American Dream' for the people who come to experience it. The actor who plays Novi in the court scene is none other than Joel Grey, who played the MC in the oscar-winning Cabaret:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRIbUT6u7Q
This is a movie that knows its musicals! The film's plot is pure melodrama - and knows it - and yet that hand-held camera aesthetic encourages us to too 'feel' it as real or 'like the world' or 'about what actually happened.' Personally, I think the film is technically amazing - the editing in particular is extraordinary. I think Bjork is perfect and compelling and I fall in love with her decency everytime - but it's Kathy - who works out the steps for her during the rehearsal - break my heart: they've got extraordinary on screen chemistry. Anyway, I think you're spot on in regard to the film expressing the 'non-representation' and exploitation of the immigrant experience etc.
Not a bundle of laughs though, I grant you.