To put it shortly, I'd say that since DANCER IN THE DARK he has flattened his
provocative approach on manipulation to meet some kind of mainstream standards
of "shock politics". Before that, I liked his works, well, the ones I've seen:
certainly BREAKING THE WAVES and THE IDIOTS, his two best imho, and THE KINGDOM.
About THE BOSS OF IT ALL, I think he spoils what could be a frank approach on
non-control with this very witty script and mainly with his voiceover. Why would
someone play with a framing device if he's so sure of himself and able to print
his credentials in everything else he throws on the screen? In MOSCOW, the final
voiceover (there's one in the beginning and one final one, if I remember well)
self-effaces abruptly, giving us a strong sense of fragmentation and
incompleteness. I don't get that at all in the LvT film: all I get is the sense
of watching a very badly framed and edited episode of THE OFFICE.

ruy

----- Original Message -----
From: Bilge Ebiri
To: a_film_by@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 1:29 AM
Subject: Re: [a_film_by] Re: Brazilian films at MOMA



>About MOSCOW, it's an exercice on error much like Lars Von Trier's THE BOSS
>OF IT ALL,
>but way better on the approach on error and fragmented bits the structure
>comes with
>(the Trier is nothing more then a self-conscious joke, whereas here we are
>in deep waters).

Um, them's fighting words w/r/t THE BOSS OF IT ALL, which I consider to be
one of the more underrated films of the past few years. I'd be curious to
see why you think it's nothing more than a self-conscious joke (unless you
feel that way about all of LVT's films, in which case never mind).

-Bilge





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