Saturday, April 9, 2011

Chaos Reigns Rains


Tapping into the depressive alarmist in all of us: Lars Von Trier's Melancholia.


Charlotte Gainsbourg reunites although rightfully on edge (labia presumably intact) after her maternal meltdown in Antichrist.


She stars opposite Kirsten Dunst in a film that melds her Marie Antoinette melancholy with a more soul-scarring degradation, essential to Von Trier's oeuvre. What begins as Breaking the Waves-style bliss at a wedding quickly descends into the ironic devastation of a planet on a crashcourse with earth and its lethargic/paranoid party guests. Among them Alexander Skarsgard, Stellan Skarsgard, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling and Udo Kier.


Although similar to Sofia Coppola, Von Trier's doom and malaise sure make for great eye candy. Kirsten Dunst makes moping exquisite.


Dunst lounging on rocks and in rivers, summoning sparks in the sky... The imagery is sexy, sinister and electrifying! In anticipation for precipitation, here's a few stills to satisfy us until the apocalypse (which should begin in Denmark on May 26 and reach American shores by summer). When the end of times come, may they be this visually arresting and fraught with nudity.




Full Trailer...

Melancholia from Zentropa on Vimeo.


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