Author |
Message |
stuffp
Keeping it Light
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 8:06 am Posts: 11204 Location: Bright Falls
|
The House That Jack Built
Quote: The House That Jack Built is a 2018 psychological horror film written and directed by Lars von Trier, starring Matt Dillon in the title role of Jack. The story follows Jack, a serial killer, over the course of 12 years in the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S. state of Washington. Von Trier has described the film as celebrating "the idea that life is evil and soulless." The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, marking von Trier's return to the festival after more than six years.
|
Sun Dec 16, 2018 11:14 pm |
|
|
movies35
Forum General
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:53 pm Posts: 8626 Location: Syracuse, NY
|
Re: The House That Jack Built
This is a great addition to the Lars von Trier catalog. Of course it's not for everyone but it is really quite fascinating and Matt Dillon gives a career best performance here as Jack. It feels a bit long in the tooth by the end but it has a lot to say and it entertaining throughout the majority of the running time and is darkly hilarious.
A-
_________________ Top 10 Films of 2016
1. La La Land 2. Other People 3. Nocturnal Animals 4. Swiss Army Man 5. Manchester by the Sea 6. The Edge of Seventeen 7. Sing Street 8. Indignation 9. The Lobster 10. Hell or High Water
|
Sun Dec 16, 2018 11:32 pm |
|
|
David
Pure Phase
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:33 am Posts: 34865 Location: Maryland
|
Re: The House That Jack Built
This is excellent. One of Lars von Trier's best; I admit I am predisposed to his style and "voice," but I can also objectively tell he is creatively on fire here. It is such a feast of a film, and it conjures a laundry list of adjectives: disgusting, hilarious, philosophical, poetic, etc. At times, it is absolutely savage and nearly as frightening as a film can be (the hunting-trip incident, for example). At other points, it is an undeniably effective gallows comedy (such as Jack's OCD-driven inability to leave a crime scene, certain he needs to return just one more time to clean a final bit of blood).
And the more one ponders it—the conversations on art and morality shared by Jack and Virgil, the idea of Jack as a horror-movie metaphor for the director's own tendency toward provocation and self-doubt—the more it reveals itself as densely woven with ideas, themes, and a general air of possibility. By so completely committing to his mad cinematic muse, von Trier more than earns every tonal shift, as well as the film's epic length. And Matt Dillon boldly hits every note required of him; it is a portrayal of psychopathic narcissism to rival Christian Bale's in American Psycho.
I also have this peculiar, almost tactile love for how Lars von Trier films have nominal settings (Nymphomaniac is set in "England," this is set in the "Pacific Northwest"), but each is truly set in Lars von Trier World, a place where accents, geography, etc. blur. Exactly where we are in time and place becomes hard to specify. I know it is a partly unintentional byproduct of his fear of flying and his ability to gather prestigious international casts in Denmark for his shoots, but it nonetheless pleases me.
_________________1. The Lost City of Z - 2. A Cure for Wellness - 3. Phantom Thread - 4. T2 Trainspotting - 5. Detroit - 6. Good Time - 7. The Beguiled - 8. The Florida Project - 9. Logan and 10. Molly's Game
|
Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:18 am |
|
|
Dil
Forum General
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:48 pm Posts: 8942 Location: Houston, Texas
|
Re: The House That Jack Built
This is easily one of the most interesting films I have seen all year. I'll admit that I'm not much of a Lars Von Tier fan, but after seeing this I do want to check out more of his films. It's way too long IMO, but I'd be lying if I said I was ever bored because I wasn't. Matt Dillon is truly fantastic in this, and for the most part this movie is definitely a dark comedy and it absolutely works. There is so much going on in this film that I almost want to watch it again one day to catch everything I might have missed and who knows maybe I will, but for now all I can say is I very interested to see what this director does next.
B+
|
Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:40 pm |
|
|
Algren
now we know
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:31 pm Posts: 67043
|
Re: The House That Jack Built
This is superb. Overtly watchable and devlishly entertaining. Matt Dillon is fantastic and hilarious. Got to be the best performance of his life.
|
Sun Jan 20, 2019 4:04 am |
|
|
Algren
now we know
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:31 pm Posts: 67043
|
Re: The House That Jack Built
Ooh, pressure. I am sure you will have some interesting insights regardless.
|
Tue Feb 05, 2019 11:24 pm |
|
|
stuffp
Keeping it Light
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 8:06 am Posts: 11204 Location: Bright Falls
|
Re: The House That Jack Built
Good film where Dillon definitely nails the serial killer role. The film is well made, a disturbing story with some disturbing imaginary. I just didn't get really engaged with it, it's the first Von Trier movie I've seen, and there's some admiring quality to the story he's telling and how it's filmed, but as a whole I didn't feel that impressed with it either.
B
|
Sun Mar 24, 2019 3:48 am |
|
|