It doesn’t seem wise to choose Lars von Trier’s “The House That Jack Built” for League of Movies held by @wiseagent, considering that the contest is expecting us to come up with a review on a film that has a serial killer (who wears a mask to commit a murder or hide himself / herself through dangerous personalities to commit a crime) as an antagonist.
First, Jack, played by Matt Dillon, is a serial killer but not an antagonist – he is more of a protagonist – he is building the house after all:)
Secondly, he is not hiding behind any sorts of masks – he is completely what he is.
He even looks like a serial killer –we’ll come to that a little later.
So it doesn’t completely meet the contest criteria (deep down inside, I know it does!).
And last but not least, its director, Lars von Trier, had been condemned and declared “persona non grata” by the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. Although he returned to Cannes seven years later with this film, I am sure his Nazi remarks will never be forgotten or forgiven by many.
To top it all off, on the movie's reception at Cannes, the director himself said that “I am not sure if they hated it enough.” As if a hundred people didn’t already walk out of the screening midway through.
Hm, so the film is not completely pleasant.
Still, try not to be so cruel towards me. I’m not completely stupid.
Or am I?
Simple: Why do you always have to be so cruel? I'm not completely stupid.
Jack: That fucking depends on your definition of "completely."
You see, it is funny in a way.
In a dark way!
Still…
WHAT THE HELL, LET’S START
Jack is an engineer who always wanted to be an architect. He is building, destroying, re-building a house while walking us through five “incidents” from his life over a 12-year period. They are randomly but chronologically chosen murders committed by him.
His first murder is the result of his sudden burst of anger and as a result it is a bit messy: a jack in Uma Thurman’s face.
Yep, a jack.
In-yer-face!
It is a highly disturbing scene, but somehow it is not uncalled for.
As his first victim so delicately(!) put it:
Lady 1: This was maybe a mistake.
Jack: What was maybe a mistake?
Lady 1: Me getting in this car with you. You might as well be a serial killer. Sorry, but you do kind of look like one.
Then he drags his second victim at the back of his van through the streets, leaving a trail of blood. He cuts Simple’s breasts and then pins one of them to a police car and fashions the other one into a wallet. He shots children (“Children, the most sensitive subject of all!”) dead from a watchtower.
The fifth one, on the other hand, contains a sophisticated plan of killing five men with one bullet.
Not a brutal mass murder – he has simply improved his “art” in time.
There is plenty of violence during the film, a bit too much for my taste, but as you may expect, it is not von Trier’s intention to make a slasher film.
He knows better.
His plan is giving us hell.
GO TO HELL!
“The House That Jack Built” is too long. It has too many messages to deliver. It contains a long discussion on William Blake’s tiger and lamb, for example. Then it references to von Trier’s own works as well as Dante’s Divine Comedy. Not to mention the references I probably couldn’t understand at all. The film has a lot to say about human nature, carnal desires, art and artist, and even about Hitler.
I saw the film through, but there’s no denying it took a lot of nerve.
Jack: [looking at the camera] If you feel like screaming, I definitely think that you should.
Yeah, I definitely felt like screaming.
But at the end, Jack’s denial in the hell, his clinging to the hope that he could find a way out, may earn a significant place in cinema history, with all its “noble rot” leading me to have the sweetest last laugh – so let’s say, my patience was rewarded.
Jack: Don't look at the acts, look at the works.
Don’t get me wrong please; who cares the act, of course I am looking at the works, and from “Breaking the Waves” to “Dogville”, to “Melancholia”, Lars von Trier is one of my favorite directors.
Still, if I had to hide someone behind a mask for the sake of this contest, then again it would be him who was wearing Jack’s face as a mask, and I would happily tear off his mask!
Here is the verdict: Even though I couldn’t stop myself from writing about it, I completely hate it, Lars, happy?
Hope you'll also participate with a review, @doctorbishop and @sudefteri
garip bir filme benziyormuş hele ki şu aralar çok naif kasaba hikâyelerinden oluşan şeyler izlediğimi göz önünde bulundurursam :)
başarılar dilerim, umarım ileride #tr grubunda da yeniden görebiliriz böyle bir yarışma ortamını..
#tr uykuda gibi. ama sen geldin. belki başkaları da gelir ve yeniden canlanır.
Hi, @ecotone. Thank you for joining the league (with a very nice and interesting entry, by the way).
Let me tell you something... You need to place the contest link in a more visible way and the #leagueofmovies tag must be among the first 05 tags (which are the main ones to be visible).
Good luck in the contest and I hope you will participate in the next challenges.
Thank you for the contest. It is motivating me -and others, I guess- to write and talk about movies - one of my favorite topics:))
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bana zorla ingilizce öğretecek ya :D Ben metni kabaca anlayabiliyorum sadece. Dolayısıyla değerli yorumlar yapamıyorum :)
Yine de bunu yapıyor olmandan çok memnunum. yakın zamanda izleyip tekrar uğrayayım buraya :)
Spaminator diye bir belalın var:)
Güzel yazdım valla. Bu film çok acayip.
Seninle iletişimde olmanın bedeli bir downvote ise her gün onlarca yemeye razıyım.......... :D
bu gece izlerim sanıyorum
Uzun ve rahatsız edici. Önce ekşi'den falan bi bak, sana uyar mı diye. Ben vaktiyle filmekiminde sinemada izledim diye izledim. Evde olsam muhtemelen kapatırdım.