Craftsman1800

For days afterward I felt ill, yet I had to acknowledge Von Trier had achieved something brilliant. The stress and pain Bjork's character experienced I was feeling. After a few years I finally was able to bring myself to watch it again. This second time I could more objectively see the musical and editing techniques he used the achieved the goal of audience manipulation. Normally I detest manipulative films, but in this case I thought it fascinating since he obviously did it as an exercise to demonstrate how far this can be taken. I'm just glad he took a different course when making the film Melancholia!

My expectations weren't very high with this being rated lowest of Larry Kent's Vancouver Trilogy according to IMDB . I'd seen the first two, The Bitter Ash, and Sweet Substitute. They were good but flawed, suffering from low budgets and other compromises. Being curious, I really felt compelled to see When Tomorrow Dies despite my low expectations. Immediately I was drawn into the dreamlike sequences and was hooked. Much like in Sweet Substitute, Kent's sets are like time capsules of 1960s interiors and esthetics. The interiors are very reminiscent of my childhood home. What can I say about the story without spoilers? This is the type of story that might be more at home in 1970s feminist films. In a way it could be seen as a woman's midlife crisis and her coming to terms with it. Technically, my only problem was with the voice soundtrack. The voices were extremely loud at times, yet would go soft and unintelligible at others. Even when loud it was difficult to understand some dialog. Hopefully in the future this can be addressed. The music however, as in the other two Vancouver Trilogy films, was excellent.

Felt compelled to write a review because this film was much better than I expected based on the low rating. No, it wasn't The Day the Earth Stood Still or 2001 A Space Odyssey. The effects and overall film were very low budget, and there was a cheesy prologue and epilogue. However the acting was pretty good and the story was thoughtful, with a few interesting twists and turns. Considering the obvious low budget, the actors seemed to be invested in doing a nice job pulling it off. In some ways it reminded me of something that wouldn't have been too out of place as the plot for an original series Star Trek episode. Recommended for some lighter viewing.