cinema history class: the house that jack built

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 5 (Ethan)
Movie: The House That Jack Built (2018)
Directed by Lars Von Trier

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A psychopath murders people and discusses philosophy. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
The House that Jack Built has gotten very extreme polarized reactions. When it premiered at Cannes, over 100 people walked out. But the remaining viewers gave it a ten-minute standing ovation. We're not talking about a fun film to watch. But it's suspenseful and it's interesting as a character study -- if you can get yourself through it.

The biggest knock on House (assuming you know what kind of show you're in for) is the pretension. Von Trier makes his points by interspersing scenes of tigers and sheep -- and Glenn Gould playing the piano. In so doing, he seems to be trying to give the impression that the movie is saying more than it really is. And, honestly, when a movie runs at more than two and a half hours, unnecessary exposition (including graphics) about architecture, the science of fermentation and similar subjects not directly related to the story is really an imposition on the audience.

In class, Ethan presented the Director's Cut, as opposed to the theatrical release that he and I saw in a theatre last January. For myself, I think the theatrical release works better. The only difference that I noticed is in one particularly gory scene -- the Director's Cut is more explicit, but I think the theatrical release, which just hinted at the worst of that scene, worked better.

Ratings:

Me: 8
Dave: 8.5

Joe: 9.7
Keith: 9

Sean: 3 out of 4