Review of Manderlay (2005) by Eero V — 17 Mar 2015
Manderlay is a monumental load of art house horse shit and the worst film Lars von Trier has ever made. It is astonishing how after the arduously misanthropic, but stylistically audacious Dogville, von Trier could have made something this atrocious.
Both films use a very minimalist style (both were shot on a single stage with very little set pieces), which alone may bore some people to death, but at least Dogville had even a notion of story, some fine acting and thoughtful, if cynical, ideas.
Manderlay has none of these; an interesting concept perhaps, but the acting is anemic, the story uninteresting, and Anthony Dod Mantle, who usually is a very good cinematographer, seems to have been continually drunk while shooting the film.
Say what you will about von Trier and his originality and audacity as a filmmaker, but this film is an excruciatingly boring botch-up that I will never, ever watch again.
This review of Manderlay (2005) was written by Eero V on 17 March 2015.
Manderlay has generally received positive reviews.
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