"Melancholia" Coming in November

The languid, deceptively simple poster for Lars von Trier's new film Melancholia works effectively on several different levels.

The movie is about the reaction of depressed newlywed Kirsten Dunst to the impending end of the world. A "rogue planet" that has been hiding behind the sun is about to hit the earth.

Von Trier's film is intended to illustrate his theory that people with depression react more calmly to awful events because they already expect everything that happens to them to be awful.

Source

This film sure seems like it's been a long time coming. You can also read my other LvT posts. Link below.

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Melancholia

"Life is only on Earth... and not for long." Another mesmerizing new trailer to watch. Out of nowhere, Zentropa has debuted the official trailer (website / Vimeo) for Danish director Lars von Trier's new film Melancholia. This is sort of a sci-fi drama about another planet that's going to collide with the Earth, but it's really about a wedding and the people there. Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Kiefer Sutherland star with Alexander Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Stellan Skarsgård and Udo Kier. This is beautiful, but as always with von Trier, very, very weird, but that's why it's so intriguing. Enjoy.

Melancholia is both written & directed by controversial/brilliant Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, of films like Medea, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, The Boss of It All and Antichrist most recently. Magnolia Pictures will be distributing Melancholia in the US later this year, but it doesn't have a release date yet, as we're expecting the film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this summer. Visit the official website.

Cannot wait!

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(My last post on) Antichrist

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe in Lars von Trier's "Antichrist," Zentropa, 2009

Five minutes after it ended (at Cannes), the first screening of Lars von Trier's new, outrageous "Antichrist" was already a thing of legend.

Journalists wobbled away ecstatic, furious, amused, bewildered or physically ill, and at a press conference the next day, the Danish provocateur proclaimed "I am the best film director in the world."

Is von Trier's new yardstick to measure success the barf factor? Or by how many people walked out?


A sample of some critic's reactions from Patrick Walker's piece in LATimes.com.

* Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum: "Blood spurts, bones are broken, genitals are mutilated. Hellooo? Are you still with me?"

* Time Out New York's Stephen Garrett: "I personally had a ball. [It's] gonzo drama at its most feral."

* Variety's Todd McCarthy: "Von Trier cuts a big fat art-film fart with 'Antichrist.' Traveling deep into NC-17 territory, this may prove a great date movie for pain-is-pleasure couples. Otherwise, most of the director's usual fans will find this outing risible, off-putting or both."

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Antichrist - Gigola - King Shot
three upcoming movies
Lars von Trier, one of my all time favorite directors, is currently working on Antichrist, a film starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. He wrote and directed it and he's expected to show it at this years Cannes Festival which is sometime in May.

In the village of filmdom Lars' films fly far above the fray. Dancer In The Dark is my favorite one of his.

Trailer

link | link | IMDb | photo (NSFW)

And Gigola has just started in early 2009 and is taken from a steamy novel by Laure Charpentier.

The plot: George, a young woman loses herself in the nightlife of 1960s-era Paris after the suicide of her female lover, and eventually becomes a gigolo catering to women.

It stars the toxic Asia Argento and the smoldering Anne Parillaud, Marisa Berenson, and Tchéky Karyo.

Asia Argento is so enigmatic -- wow! Many of her characters remind me of a younger version of myself, I hesitate to add. I saw her again in Transvylvania a few nights ago.
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She's also working on Alejandro Jodorowsky's King Shot, that's been in production for-ev-er.

Keep churning the good stuff out. We'll be waiting.

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Indie distributor IFC Films said Monday it secured U.S. theatrical rights to experimental filmmaker Matthew Barney's "Drawing Restraint 9." It will debut March 29 at New York's IFC Center, with regional distribution to follow.

"Restraint" is the latest feature film from art-world darling Barney, who wrote, directed and starred in several movies as part of his "Cremaster Cycle" from 1995 to 2002. It is his first onscreen collaboration with wife Bjork, the famed musician who also scored the film, which marks her return to acting after an acclaimed turn in Lars von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark." [MORE...]

Link

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I just ordered this copy of Arthur . I'd never heard of it until just recently. With a cover story on Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), and inside features on Lars von Triers, and a report on the Thelema convention, plus more music, comics, poetry, and art, for $5.00 I'm ordering this magazine today.

Moby and Public Enemy have teamed up for the iTunes exclusive download "Make Love F*ck War" due for release through V2 which is being made available today. Make Love Fuck War - dirty version

It's a treat to be upright, I'll tell you. I've felt so shitty and have been in the bed for days now. I'm anxious to be back in the blog groove and read all your latest posts and hope to do so real soon.

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50 Immortals of Rock
Good feature in latest Rolling Stone magazine of the greatest artists of all time.

Make your personalized signs here. Dozens of motifs to choose from. [via...presurfer]

Nicole Kidman is starring as Grace Margaret Mulligan in Lars von Trier's upcoming Dogville. Seen earlier at film festivals, it's getting great reviews especially on originality, as did his Dancer in the Dark with Bjork. [nyt review & set pic]

*FYI - my hiatal hernia is healing nicely. Pepcid and Nexium have me back to normal. Husband has finally got his diabetes under control after moving from just diabetic pills to also adding the insulin shots. And my sister, Robin continues to heal and get stronger by the day. Normalcy is underrated.

The Bush Dog & Pony Show brought to you by the letters "F" and "U" and the number "1".

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Lars von Trier - fast becoming one of my favorite directors. He did The Kingdom, aka Riget & Riget II, on which Stephen King's current mini series (Wednesday nights, 9:00 pm), the Kingdom Hospital is based. This is a pretty good show and now I really must see von Trier's The Kingdom, parts I & II movies.

He also did Zentropa (Europa), and one of my all time favorite films, Dancer In The Dark starring Björk and Catherine Deneuve. How haunting is Björk and her music in this movie? It was also on tv again last night. I never cared for her one way or the other until I saw this movie and there's just magic all around.

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