scotti2hotti

This film was screened at the 2004 Melbourne International Film Festival. I have a fondness for French film and especially the babe-a-licious Emmanuelle Beart (even though the last film I saw of hers "Nathalie" was dreadful) so there seem to be enough reason to view The History Of Marie & Julien. An hour into the film, I was exiting the cinema (which is the first time in ages I've walked out on a film). Who knows, maybe the film came to life in the hour and a half I didn't watch. What I do know is this film was the single most boring film I'd seen during the festival. Instead of being a ponderous, pseudo-intellectual and glossy piece of cinema you'd find between the pages of a coffee table book, maybe someone should have written a decent script.

The title of this film is so ironically apt. Dogville is exactly that, a dog of a film that should have been put out of it's misery long before it even made it to a cinema screen. Not even Nicole Kidman immersed in a bottle of Meryl Streep Versatility can save this lazy, dull, ugly bore of a film. This is one big Poochie. Lars you have to go now, your planet needs you!

Every scribe in this country (Australia) is praising this film to the enth degree and I for one have absolutely no idea why. Bless Clint, he's done some great work through the years but Mystic River for me was his lowest point yet. Another film that promises the world in it's trailer, has a cast loaded with talent but ultimately delivers a cliched collection of groan inducing drivel. Has Kevin Bacon been ordained by Clint to be his screen reincarnation because old father time has passed him by? Obviously I am in the vast minority when it comes to my disdain for this film but there's only so many sugar coated reviews (is there anyone in this country that writes an honest film review without fear of losing their pay-cheque?) I can read without wanting to throw in my retaliatory two cents.