Dancer in the Dark (DVD, 2001)

DITD is a complete Melodrama-artistic film, maybe the most realistic Musical film ever, as the songs in the film takes place in the mind of Selma (Björk), a widow mother that works at a factory, saving money to prevent her only son to suffer the same fate that awaited her, Blind disease by heritage. At the factory, she, surrounded by all the machine making noices, starts to daydream as she hears the music beats and tunes created by all of surrounding, Let the musical begin!!
The film bring a drama like nothing you've ever seen and never will after this!
As Björk give a performance that none other female actress has ever come close to performe! at all this, this is her 1st and "only Silver-screen film".
Her efford soon comes to colide, as she betrayed, then the struggle ensures as she makes the final sacrifices to safe her only son, that results in an ending that will be in your mind and hearts forever.

+I loved all musicals in DITD, as they're all performed by Björk, with her unique songs, beats and tunes created from surrounding noices(literaly).
+The drama is so real that there're scenes that makes you wander if they are acting or doin it for real, especially Björk (with no acting training), who takes her own persona into for the role of Selma!
+the film is long and thrilling!
+Is an Independent-film, so is 100% original and 0% hollywood.
+Performances by great actors: Peter Stormare (Armageddon), David Morse (The Green mile), and more.
-This film is so strong("perfect") Emotionally, Artisticly, Dramaticaly, that you might see it once, and I parcially do not recomend it if you are Old or/and faint-of-heart, or suffer from any mental or heart diseases. At some point, the film may affect your sence of justice, as well as it can be the Joyfulest experience that you may see it very, very often!
+Is a Flawless piece of art!!!
+This film is so rare that is a pride to have it, even if you are not a collector.
+A must see!!!
+Great DVD features: Document, Behind the scenes, Music video selection!!!, and more...
+Feature Run Time: approx. 141mins.
+You'll Cry and Laught!!

It feels awkward to attempt to put Dancer in the Dark into words. Von Trier's film is one of those movies that truly change the way we think about cinema and its possibilities, and for such a film, words do no justice. Dancer in the Dark centers around Selma (Björk), a factory worker, who loves her 10-year-old son above everything else in the world. Selma is a happy, innocent creature who enjoys musicals for "nothing bad ever happens in them". These elements (mother's love for her son, joyfulness of musicals versus the hardships of every day life) create a whole unlike anything ever seen on silver screen. Selma is rapidly losing her eye sight, but not her vision: she's the 'dancer in the dark' who is prepared to sacrifice herself to keep the light in her child's eyes. Very early on it becomes obvious that this story can't have a happy ending. However, once you've accepted it, you can put your mind at ease and see the film as it unfolds from Selma's point of view. And what a view it is! Björk gives a performance of a life time - this little woman with a huge voice is all emotion all the time without ever appearing overtly dramatic or cheaply sentimental. There's no weak link in the rest of the cast either, Peter Stormare as Jeff, Catherine Deneuve as Kathy and Siobhan Fallon as the prison guard to name but a few. The biggest star is still the director himself; Von Trier demonstrates his talent in a superb fashion by both telling a simple story that will most likely break you heart and examining the ever-persistent ills of the life of the lower class of the American society. What about the film's musical character then? This is where von Trier triumphs the most by understanding the very essence of the whole genre - hope; hope that will live in our soul for ever if we'll only follow our heart.

Danish director Lars Von Trier sets out to break your heart with this movie annd succeeds. It's his take on the classic 50s Sirkian melodrama. Supposedly set in the Pacific Northwest (though shot in Denmark), the movie stars singer Bjork and Catherine Deneuve as two factory workers. Bjork is a single mom going blind who is trying to save money for an operation for her boy to prevent him from doing the same. David Morse is her venal landlord. And Peter Stormare has a crush on her. When things get bad at the factory, Bjork falls into musical reveries when the film, which is plainly directed with hand-held cameras, breaks free into fully choreographed fantasy sequences. All does not end well, and when I saw this film in Cannes, some 2400 journalists were weeping.

I've been a huge Bjork fan for years - that was my main reason for buying Dancer in the Dark. The next was that i knew she won Best Actress in Cannes - I Think - for her performance as Selma. But once the film began, i put Bjork, the Musician, aside...and looked at her acting. She is Fantasic! i could not believe how well she becomes Selma, the Czech immigrant, who over-works to save up money to save her son's eyesight from an illness that will eventually make him go blind, just like it has done to her. But when a 'friends' action sets off a snowball of horrible events that erase Selma's perception of reality and musicals (THIS MOVIE IS A MUSICAL...SO YOU ALSO GET BJORK THE ARTIST!) it inevitably results in Selmas unfair destiny. You watch as Selma, inocently has no idea of the trouble she's in, and everything that she does throughtout the filmthat seem funny or sweet, come back and haunt her and seal her fate, and they are seen as terrorist attacks. I challenge anyone to watch this very depressing movie and not shed one tear...it's immposible. I hold this movie to be my all time favorite sad movie.

this movie will either really appeal or really not appeal to people right from the start based on whether or not they like musicals. This movie is a musical, albeit a pretty deep one. Not liking musicals all that much,I watched it thinking for sure I would come away from it wishing I had watched something else. Much to my surprise, the songs were not silly or ridiculously upbeat, they were whimsical and easily identified with, as are the characters in the film. Bjork plays a great mother who is passionately dedicated to slaving her life away (despite her blindness) in order to save up enough money to give her son an operation that can spare his eyes from the same condition which rendered her blind. The drudgery of this life finds her mind wandering into a more musical and optimistic world where things are just generally more pleasant--and EVERYTHING is music. The real life betrayal she experiences amid all this is enraging, particularly the manipulation thereafter which causes her to do even more wrong and end up with legal consequences that pretty much change her life for the worst--what remains of it. This story is one woven with all the threads of a classic drama: friendship, betrayal, love, family dedication, unrequited love, great music, and, freshly, a strange but admittedly talented musician as the lead character. An introspective look into the world of someone who is not so different from us...until she gets on the stage and begins to sing...and even then, strange is not bad at all. Tissues may be needed for the softhearted for the end of this one though---the main character's life ends rather bluntly and a little graphically--and, as you may have guessed, during one of our leading lady's songs. Over all, an engrossing tale if one is patient with music. I turned out to be, to MY OWN SURPRISE. I'm glad I gave it the whole movie through. Also this movie is appropriate for the very religious--no nudity, no sex, mild drinking by side characters, no drug use, mild use of cigarettes, little blood during one short scene, and only mild use of profanity if any. Happy viewing.