Dancer in the Dark
May 2001 Reviewed by: Doug Schneider Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Critics and audiences usually come away from Dancer in the Dark with polarized responses. Some feel it is the work of a genius, while others think it is complete crap. After having endured the film’s two-plus hours, I would say both have a point.

Dancer in the Dark is from writer/director Lars von Trier, who also brought us the equally odd, but much more compelling film Breaking the Waves (released in 1996). His style is minimalist and, certainly in this day of big-budget extravaganzas, unique. He uses hand-held cameras and directs with what seems like almost improvisational, or at least single-take, acting technique. The result is a raw, visceral look at human interaction and emotion. With this film he goes one step further and shoots the whole thing using digital video!

It’s 1964 and Bjork plays Selma Yeskova, a Czechoslovakian immigrant who works in a factory in the rural U.S. She lives in a trailer, loves musicals, and, most importantly, has a young son she cares for deeply. She’s also poor and saves every bit of money she can get to buy her son an operation. He, like Selma, has a hereditary eye design that results in blindness. It’s too late for Selma, but not for him. We eventually learn that she’ll stop at nothing to make sure he’s saved.

What this film contains is not so much a story, but rather a series of events. Selma is not only visually handicapped, she also appears to be a bit slow mentally (at the least, she has a very different way of interpreting the world, not unlike Emily Watson’s Bess McNeill character in Breaking the Waves). As a result, a number of events transpire that lead her down a path that most would not want to travel. With Lars von Trier’s minimalist approach this is all conveyed with stark honesty -- still, that’s not all there is to this offbeat film. Dancer in the Dark isn’t just a movie about a troubled, perhaps mentally disturbed, young woman going blind -- it’s a musical about one. And just when the moment seems the most inopportune, the entire cast breaks into a song-and-dance number. Does it work? Well, sort of -- better than Cop Rock anyway.

Many will know Bjork as the quirky pop singer. Few can imagine her as an actress. After seeing this film I would say that audiences would still be divided as to which task she performs better. In any event, Bjork must be commended for successfully pulling off such an odd role in such a strange film. In comparison to the real actors around her, she seems the most comfortable in front of the camera.

The picture quality here is surprisingly good. I say surprisingly because this was shot with digital video, with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio -- and it looks very film-like. Mike Figgis’ inventive Timecode made me perk up and take notice of digital video. That film however, with its four little frames per scene, made it difficult to see whether the format is really up to the task in terms of resolution. Dancer in the Dark proves that perhaps it is -- or it’s getting very close. Other than some odd jerkiness and blurring when the camera pans quickly, what’s seen in this film is really good. The low cost of shooting in this format also allowed them to do some unique things, like shooting some key scenes with 100 cameras -- something that would have been prohibitive using real film.

The sound quality, though, isn’t of the same standard. At its best it is fairly clean, reasonably detailed and decently fleshed out. At its worst it’s a bit difficult to decipher. During certain dialogue-rich scenes I found myself straining to untangle what was being said. And while the musical numbers are the best sounding, even these are below an acceptable level of quality for today.

On the other hand, the extras included are quite good. There is an intriguing little documentary called "100 Cameras: Capturing Lars von Trier’s Vision." It describes the technical complexities and resulting challenges of filming certain parts of this film with 100 strategically placed digital video cameras. For film buffs, this stuff is fascinating. There are also other extras, including another documentary about the dance scenes, as well as commentaries by various production members and "Alternate Scenes." For fans of the film, this is a well-packed DVD.

In the end I can’t say that Dancer in the Dark is all that good, but I can say that it’s different. There were parts of it that I liked, as well as parts I found disappointing. What I found worst of all was that I sat uneasily through the film’s lengthy running time, and had to take a few breaks to make it all the way through. I’m sure that there will be some viewers who will read into what’s depicted onscreen and will extrapolate all kinds of meaning from it. I’m not so sure, however, that they wouldn’t be fooling themselves. So, in a nutshell, for those who want to experience something very different and very gripping from Lars von Trier, rent Breaking the Waves. If you’ve seen it, or it’s already rented out, then perhaps get this one.

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