Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  4   First thing’s first.  Director Lars von Trier’s most recent opus Nymphomaniac, as episodic as it is, is a single and singular film.  The split into “Vol. 1” and “Vol. 2” is entirely arbitrary and pragmatic, accommodating the obvious limitations of an average theater’s scheduling and an average audience’s attention span. Appropriately perhaps, Nymphomaniac begins ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  10  Antichrist is a beautifully shot and deeply disturbing film in which “He” (Willem Dafoe) and “She” (Charlotte Gainsbourg) attempt to find what’s at the top of this triangle diagram: what She pathologically fears. After their child jumps out a window to his death while the ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10)?  8  Writer/director Lars von Trier’s Antichrist (2009) is the single most disturbing film I have seen in the last decade.  To be sure, I was not a big fan of the torture porn wave, although I have seen Saw (2004) and Hostel (2005).  And although I have never covered my ... Read More »

Spoiler Scale (How spoilery is this article on a scale of 1 to 10?):  7    Woody Allen once said, “Paranoia is knowing all the facts.”  Substitute the word “paranoia” with the word “depression,” and you have the thematic backbone of Lars von Trier’s new film, Melancholia (2011). The first half – titled “Part I – Justine” – covers the wedding reception of the ... Read More »