Lars von Trier's masterpiece IDIOTERNE (1998) is an absolute must-see if you are interested in European independent movies with more depth and originality than the average Hollywood blockbuster formula: kiss kiss, bang bang!!
If you want to learn more about IDIOTERNE, about the creation of it, about sticking to the Dogme95 rules, and Lars von Trier's thoughts during the process then Jesper Jargil's documentary DE YDMYGEDE is absolutely essential viewing. It's structured together by short clips from Trier's movie, Jargil's footage shot on the set, and, most importantly, out-takes from Lars von Trier's dicta-phone diary used as a voice-over.
Lars von Trier speaks straight from his heart without beating around the bush. He talks about his feelings, thoughts, phobias, meanings, and different problems he had during the shooting the movie. I once saw an interview with Trier, in which he said he would have loved if Ingmar Bergman had written diaries during shooting of his classics, so in a sense, Trier is doing all his young fans a favor. It's a truly a great gift for young ambitious movie-makers. Yet his very unfiltered diary entries are a mess without any kind of structure, and I believe some of it could have been left out. Running at 79 minutes, I think Jargil's documentary could have used some tightening up, some of the material is simply not interesting enough. On the other hand, the loose structure goes very well hand-in-hand with IDIOTERNE, and is as such not meant as an average factual documentary, rather than a fly-on-the wall kind with emotional insight into the director's mind. Definitely worth a watch! 7/10
