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Reviews
Dogville (2003)
Dogville eats balls
Never mind the controversy surrounding VonTrier's apparent disdain for the United States. I will even discard his unobscured hatred of women. Why hasn't anyone said anything about how the ending of this film says absolutely nothing at all? So Grace is this apparent stoic and bars herself from any sort of reaction to outside forces. She takes this to a totally ridiculous extreme, and in the end condemns mankind for it. Here it is. People do bad stuff to Grace and Grace takes it. Grace gets discouraged when no one has any compassion for her, and when she has the chance, kills all of them. What sort of resolution is this? I don't think it is necessary to have a message, but if obscured it should be done in an interesting, provocative, etc. Way. And this movie didn't. May I also say that the "five obstructions" or whatever it is called seemed equally ridiculous. The two men are completely self obsessed and obnoxiously passionate - not thoughtful, about their work. Why is it okay for that white-haired dude to go on and on about the red light district in Bombay being hell? Whiner!
The Beaver Trilogy (2000)
I like it.
This movie is amazing for several reasons. Harris takes an extremely awkward documentary and turns it into a relevant social commentary. Groovin' Gary is a small-town kid who is (assumed) well-liked for his many impersonations. When he decides to play Olivia Newton John in a local talent show (for whom he is very passionate), Gary's actions show that he is at odds with the conservative social environment in which he lives. This results in him making various justifications for his actions so that people will not think that he is in fact a transvestite or other such social outcast. In the second installment, Harris exploites the struggle between Gary and Beaver in a novice attempt to make a narrative out of the original documentary. The third and final installment to the trilogy is truly amazing for Harris' extreme sensitivity with the subject. Unlike the second installment, "The Orkly Kid" shows Gary as a truly troubled character. He struggles to gain acceptance within his own community to no avail. His secret passion for dressing like Olivia Newton John distances him even further from the people that already consider him a social outcast. The movie is depicted so realistically that, like reality, it lends itself to many reactions. Surely, one can see Gary as a ridiculously pathetic character, but may also identify with him as an outcast.
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)
Discourse on Ugliness
In reaction to the nominal dialogue surrounding this film, I argue that perhaps the character descriptions "Nat Nerd," "Greasin' Greg," and the rammifications according to their social stratification give the film a definitive social realm unmatched by children's cinema. The "State Home for the Ugly" is the most relevant example of this strong social binary offered through the nominal and abnominal. The 'Kids' are the other as viewed not only through the eyes of the "other," Dodger, Tangerine, etc. but through aperceptive incites. Nat Nerd's statement, "Look Guys! Niagra Falls!" as he urinates in his pants is a suggestive one, and when the 'others' refrain from reaction he retorts, "I thought it was funny." This line carries a strong social message: that Nat Nerd has given up all social pursuits in favor of his personal sovereignty. No longer is Nat tied to the hierarchies created by those who subjugated him into the oppressive category "ugly." He is now free from the other, and asserts his own power accordingly.