| Dancer in the Dark | |
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This is the first musical in which the music doesn't pop out of nowhere because that's the convention, but grows out of rhythms found in the real world. A scratching pencil, a train clattering over railroad tracks, a needle caught in a groove, or the industrial stomping of factory machines, anything can set off Selma's musical reveries. Suddenly, the colors become richer, Bjork begins to wail, the surround sound kicks in, and the movie celebrates a life that could have been if it wasn't for the awful circumstances of Selma's life.
The musical numbers are carefully placed so that every rude awakening from the sometimes jarring but always rousing songs lead her one step further down the path to her doom. The songs, Selma's way of dealing with her horrible fate, have the same function for the audience: without the music, this film would be unwatchable. Once and for all, it answers the question about why people break out into song in movies, and as far as I am concerned, Dancer deserves a place in movie heaven for this achievement alone.
In the final judgment however, I wonder if von Trier isn't just as dishonest as the glib Hollywood entertainment the rules of Dogme '95 criticize. His documentary-like visual style appears to be honest and straightforward, and he certainly offers a great alternative to the worn-out conventions of traditional cinema -- but if you look at the unabashed sentimentality and the shameless melodrama of this movie, you can see that this filmmaker does not hesitate to pull out all the stops and exploit his new form for the same ends as, say, Douglas Sirk. Isn't this anything but Hollywood melodrama by different means? See if you can keep from choking up in the end.
Dancer in the Dark is certainly an experience that no movie fan should miss, but I left the theater feeling slightly empty, knowing that I had been taken for a ride. A wonderful and heart-wrenching ride, no doubt, but in the end, I expect more from a great filmmaker than the expert manipulation of his audience for a few tears.
