My 1 + 5: Selected by Tose Ognjanov, "Dogville" by Lars von Trier
"Dogville is at the same time a kind of open literary work, which through film narration engages the viewer to actively participate in building his own vision of the film.
My selection of films will be dedicated to only one director, the controversial and insightful Dane, Lars von Trier.
I consider Trier's artistic expression and his approach to narration through camera, sound, scenography, directing the actors to be masterfully innovative with exceptional skill to attach to the emotional and mental sensors of the viewer.
In my short selection of five films by this director, I will still focus on Dogville.
Three hours, theater in a movie in which the concept "Less is more" (Less means more) frees the viewer from the need to focus on bulky scenery and like a funnel allows him to focus on the story experienced by the actors. The concept of theater, but even more simplified, to the point that the viewer, unwillingly, begins to add to the script his own imaginations about the locations, the interior, the climate, the wind, the cold, the warmth in the film.
"Dogville" is at the same time a kind of open literary work, which through film narration engages the viewer to actively participate in building his own vision of the film. Trier seems to want to create a story in which, under his baton, he will allow the recipient to be not only a consumer, but also a kind of assistant to the director in creating the film.
As for the story, in turn, in Dogville, as the name suggests, in layman's translation, Dog City, we are confronted with the philosophy of the pack of stray dogs. The petty bourgeoisie defends its own pack, and each of its individuals defends its own space. For individuals from outside, in such an environment there is no space, which can be seen from the attitude of the characters towards Grace (Nicole Kidman) which suddenly with its whiteness disturbs the grayness of the corporate community.
This concept of the fear of the other, of change, the fear of the small and the big, but also the cruelty that secretly exists in closed communities, prompts the viewer to think: Whether and to what extent man as an individual in modern society has succeeded in becoming cosmopolitan or still in himself brings the mentality of cave living?
"Dogville" is an astonishing film, a film that brings a contemporary story that opens the door for the viewer to enter it and ask himself, what is "Dogville" like for each of us?
+5:
"Europe", 1991
The Idiots, 1998
Nymphomaniac, 2013
"Dancer in the Dark", 2000
Melancholia, 2011
