Von Trier’s “Antichrist” Shocks, But Fails to Move UsMatt Zakosekbyline‚ Oct. 30‚ 2009Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark is a masterpiece I never want to see again. The Björk-starring anti-musical is as emotionally devastating as movies get. His Breaking the Waves, which introduced the world to Emily Watson, is similarly affecting. Though I’ve yet to see Dogville or Manderlay — the first two chapters of von Trier’s proposed “America” trilogy — friends have assured me that they are thoughtful, accomplished pieces of art. The director’s Antichrist, by contrast, feels like an empty provocation — a calculated attempt to shock in a post-reality-TV, post-torture society. Von Trier presents unbelievably gruesome images in graphic, clinical close-up as a commentary on ... what? Man’s inhumanity to man? Man’s inhumanity to woman? The hordes lining up to see Saw VI at the multiplex this weekend? |