DOGVILLE: MISUNDERSTOOD MASTERPIECE

Dogville never stood a chance. Lars Von Trier, a director who's mouth gets him in to more trouble than Spike Lee's, essentially made Dogville (as well as its sequel; Manderlay) as a response to people who criticized the ending of Dancer In The Dark. Critics, movie-goers and even other filmmakers thought Lars Von Trier was too critical and unfair in his judgment of America (a country he's never stepped foot in) and he had no right to portray the American judicial system the way he did in the courtroom scene in Dancer In The Dark. The Lars Von Trier/Dogville naysayers DO kinda have a point. It’s hard to listen to someone be SO critical of a country they've never been too but at the same time America is the kinda country where you don’t necessarily need to physically be there to see how screwed up it can be. In response to Dancer In The Dark's critics, Von Trier pretty much just went; "Oh Yeah?! How 'bout I make another movie that’s even more critical of America?" And he did in the form of Dogville - A comment on the immigration system in the United States. According to Von Trier the film was about the messed up immigration system in his home country of Denmark. But anyone who's seen Dogville and knows anything about the immigration system in America as well as Lars Von Trier's history with American critics, he clearly made Dogville about...America. So Dogville was doomed from the start. Not only was it directed by a filmmaker that a lot of people don’t really care for on a personal level, it was also filmed on a giant stage-like set (almost like a play). So not only was the film prejudged before it was released but it also didn’t look like you're traditional movie. It’s like Lars was just trying to make things difficult for himself. Upon its initial release most critics ranging from Ebert to Rex Reed had declared the movie as everything from "bad" to "awful". But I honestly think Dogville is a great film and had the same EXACT movie been directed by anyone NOT Lars Von Trier it woulda got more praise. In my opinion Dogville's biggest (and really only) flaw was its leading lady (Nicole Kidman). I know its cliché to bash an A-list actress who’s essentially working out of her comfort zone (aka working with an "art house" director like Lars Von Trier) but she didn’t deliver. Her performance was a little too weak and "airy" (if that makes any sense) when it should have been a little stronger (she was great in some scenes but overall it was a letdown). Personally, I think an actress like Naomi Watts or even Jennifer Jason Leigh woulda done a better job. But still, the role of Grace must've been very tough to do as it involved many scenes of rape and she also had to act with a big chain tied around her neck in the last 45 minutes of the movie. But as a lot of us know, most people consider Dogville's biggest flaw the its theater-like setting. When this came out some people didn't know what to think of it...

The town of Dogville...

But in my opinion this was just Lars trying to strip things down and go "minimal" instead of using a ton of money on sets to recreate the 1930's. Dogville was Lars Von Trier's first time working with more "known"/"Hollywood" names like Kidman, James Caan, Ben Gazzara and Lauren Bacall (alongside his regular cast of regulars like Udo Kier and Stellan Saarsgard). Outside of Dogville's handheld cinematography, the look of the movie is pretty different from anything else in Lars' filmography. But Dogville still features many key Von Trier elements from it being told in chapters to his signature shots...

Lars Von Trier signature aerial shot. Clockwise - Melancholia (2011), The Element Of Crime (1984), Dogville (2003), Medea (1988)

Dogville is the story of "Grace" (Kidman) - the strong yet vulnerable daughter of a gangster/kingpin (Caan) who's had enough of her father's criminal life and decides to run away to live somewhere else. She ends up taking refuge in the town of Dogville: a small backwoods podunk town in anywhere USA. When the town discovers her they're reluctant to take her in due to the baggage and trouble she may bring with her (her father's henchmen as well as the police are both looking for her). But thanks to one of the townspeople: "Tom" (played by Paul Bettany) he convinces the people of Dogville to take Grace in as one of their own (they supply her with a home, job and even work out a system to hide her from the police whenever they come around looking for her). Grace and Tom even fall in love at one point. At first the people of Dogville seem nice but once they discover there's a reward for turning Grace in to the authorities they're dark side comes out and they slowly exploit her (without actually calling it exploiting, of course) in exchange for them not turning her in for the reward money (the men in the town use her for sex, she gets paid less money for her work around town, and everyone just starts to treat her like shit). Eventually Grace's father comes to her "rescue" in what’s probably one of Von Trier's greatest endings. As I stated in the pink smoke's 100 greatest cinematic deaths, by the end of the movie you grow to absolutely hate the people of Dogville. The final 10-15 minutes are just amazing. And say what you want about Lars but the conversation between Grace and her Father on the subject of arrogance is one of the best moments on film from the last decade and it’s also the last memorable thing James Caan has done. This scene really sums up a big part of what Dogville is about, and its a great scene that shows off Grace's character...

Besides James Caan's short appearance at the end, Paul Bettany ("Tom") gives the standout performance in my opinion. The character of Tom is the epitome of a snake. He's a sneaky, weak, manipulative person. By the start of the film he comes off as a trustworthy person, but by the end you're kinda glad he got what came to him. Standout scenes (besides the finale) include "Vera" (played by Patricia Clarkson) getting what she thinks is revenge on Grace as well as the spanking scene. You honestly don’t have to be a Lars Von Trier fan to enjoy Dogville. If you have the ability to disassociate Lars' presence from the film you'll see it’s great and really underrated.

THIEF: REQUIRED VIEWING FOR FANS OF 'DRIVE'

We're giving Claire Denis a break for the next few blog entries and focusing on another Pinnland Empire favorite: Michael Mann (see my recent reviews of 'Ali' and my revamped review of 'Miami Vice'). Everything i read about 'Drive' (my review included) mentions Michael Mann's 'Thief' (a personal favorite of mine). And rightfully so. 'Drive' and 'Thief' have similar plots, vibe, soundtracks as well as very similar opening and closing sequences. Hell...both films even use a similar font in their opening credits (as i noted in my review of 'Drive' last month). Even the main characters in both films have their own specific set of rules that they go by in their criminal activities that are embedded in our minds. With James Caan's character in 'Thief' its; No furs, no coin collections, no stocks certificates, no treasury bonds, no nothin'. Just diamonds and cash. With Ryan Gosling its; you give me a time and a place, I give you a 5 minute window. I don't sit in while you're running it down, I don't carry gun. I drive. And I don't have an issue with Nicholas Winding Refn borrowing from 'Thief' at all. 'Drive' is in my top 3 of 2011. But I'm just a little concerned that a lot of people reading all these reviews of 'Drive' aren't familiar Michael Mann's early crime drama. In 'Thief' James Caan plays a professional ex-con jewel thief/safe cracker ("Frank") who's hired by a big time gangster ("Leo") to do a series of heists. Things go great at first, but when Frank and Leo butt heads over their agreement (Frank made it clear at the beginning he only wanted to do one or two more jobs, but Leo has other plans) he has to save himself and protect his family (his wife, played by Tuesday Weld, and their adopted baby) from Leo and his henchmen. 'Thief' might be Michael Mann at his most gritty (right down to the 12 bit synthesizers used by Tangerine Dream who scored the film). Many older fans of Mann's work who aren't happy with the direction his films have taken in the last decade consider 'Thief' to be one of his best works.

What's so great about this film is that it's a great example of Mann's evolution as a filmmaker. This was his second film (first to be shown in theaters). There's no digital handheld cinematography, no fish eye lens close-up shots of his actor's faces, yet you could see little bits of the Michael Mann we know today slowly peeking its head out.

By now, anyone familiar with Mann's work should know that you're almost always gonna see a few shots of our characters around water and/or beachfront homes (sometimes during sundown or sunset). 'Thief' was his first feature to show this...

'Thief' (1981)

'Manhunter' (1986)

'Heat' (1995)

Miami Vice (2006)

In 'Thief' we also saw the birth of 2 other signature Mann shots. Not only does he love to place an actor or an object on the far right or left of the frame with the backdrop of city lights taking up the rest of the image, but he also has a fetish for intentionally out of focus, blurry streetlights...

'Thief'

'The Insider' (1999)

'Collateral' (2004)

We also saw the birth of another similar shot that Mann loves to use which is the overlooking of a city from the inside of a building (usually an office building with large windows). This wasn't exactly the case in 'Thief', but in these images below you can see how the shot slowly evolved over the years...

'Thief' - Chicago

'The Insider' - Mississippi (i think)

'Collateral' - Los Angeles 

And regardless of the shots in 'Thief' what would eventually become some of Mann's trademarks, there's plenty of other great imagery in 'Thief' that put it ahead of all the other 70's & 80's crime drama's...

The biggest Mann trademark in 'Thief' is something that doesn't need to be conveyed visually. He loves to explore the idea of making a criminal the "good guy". And if not a good guy, someone the audience will root for. James Caan in 'Thief' isn't that much different from Deniro & Val Kilmer in 'Heat', Tom Cruise in 'Collateral' or Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in 'Public Enemies' (even Gong Li in 'Miami Vice' to a certain extent). In fact, all of these characters are an extension of the characters in the french films that Mann is influenced and inspired by like 'Circle Le Rouge' (and other Melville crime dramas like 'Un Flic'), or 'Rififi' in Thief's case (2 films about anti-hero jewel thieves with tragic endings). Caan's performance is great and his character in the film is pretty interesting. When it comes to his job as a jewel thief, he's one of the best at what he does. He has everything down to a science and is quite meticulous. But outside of his work, he's very naive (almost dumb). At certain points in the film Caan is cool, calm and levelheaded, then at other times he's out of control and a hothead. He's quite believable when he delivers a line like: I am the last guy in the world you wanna fuck with. 

And in true Scorsese fashion, Mann loves the idea of showing crooked (or at the very least, imperfect) police. There isn't a single cop character in 'Thief' that's actually a "good guy". They're all crooked. With 'Thief', in addition to Caan fighting Leo and his gangsters, he also has to deal with crooked cops trying to shake him down for money. 

This film is an underrated classic. To put it in to an analogy; If other movies in the same vein like 'French Connection' or 'Dirty Harry' are Denrio in his prime, then 'Thief' is like Harvey Kietel in his prime. If you liked 'Drive' i don't see how its possible for someone to not at least appreciate 'Thief'. Drive even shows how 'Thief' was ahead of its time in terms of film score. These days, all anyone talks about is the soundtrack for 'Drive', yet 'Thief' had a very similar soundtrack 3 decades earlier, and many critics felt the music was out of place and didn't fit with the movie (over the time that opinion has changed). 

In my opinion, not only is this a great starting point for people curious about Michael Mann, but its also a great film to get someone interested in classic french crime films from the 50's, 60's and 70's.