Last night I went to the New York Film Festival screening of "Antichrist" by Lars von Trier, presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center.
The venue was amazing. I've never been inside the Lincoln Center before but it was absolutely gorgeous. I learned that it was recently remodeled and I think they did a terrific job.
About the Movie: Antichrist by Lars von Trier
It took me about five minutes to decide that I wasn't going to like this film. The prologue was this pretentious, contrived, obnoxious in your face "filmmaker's film", complete with lofty music by Handel, slow-motion time sequencing, and displays of symbolic wonderment.
Then it took me about forty five minutes to realize I was going to love this film. I went from concluding that I thought ninety percent of it was lousy and ten percent of it was phenomenal, to realizing that for me, the lousy parts were there only to set the viewer up to an awesome explosion of relentless and intense macabre.
It must be noted that although I ended up loving this film, I am obviously not everyone, and not everyone will like it. I'll go further than that, I won't recommend this film to anyone. I'll let everyone know that I loved it, but viewing this film is a risky venture*.
First off, it is classified as a "domestic horror" film. Not everyone likes horror films, and even those who do might find the graphic violence in the film a little over the top at times. Some might say that the Antichrist film by Lars von Trier is even a bit snuffy.
Enough disclaimers! More specifically, what did I end up loving about this film?
- The photography is solid and downright masterful.
- The ever-so-subtle special effects add just the right amount of eeriness in setting the stage.
- When suspense and shock peak, von Trier takes the chance to jab the audience with a tiny dollop of sarcastic smugness - a true prize for the right witness. In my opinion, horror at its best.
Beyond the glaring exposé of self-indulgent pretentiousness, there were other things I didn't like about the film, too. There is a fault in the plot line, but since I liked the film, I'll leave dissecting that to someone who didn't like the film and will enjoy tearing it up.
After the film there was an awesome party where I was able to talk about the film with some others in the audience. I learned that Lars von Trier has a trend of being misogynistic with his works. I don't like that and think its wrong, but I didn't get that impression while I was watching the film. After a few conversations, it is disappointing that the film carries that content.
- During one particularly graphic point during the film, an audience member experienced a panic attack and the film had to be temporarily stopped. This didn't surprise me.
