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Set in an American Town in the Rocky Mountains in the 1930s. Lars von Trier re-explores the concept of goodness, but this in an idiom very different from that of his Gold Heart Trilogy (Breaking the Waves, The idiots and Dancer in the Dark). DOGVILLE is shot exclusively in studio with a minimum of props once again allowing the actors' maximum freedom and full exposure inspired by televised theatre of the 70s. In DOGVILLE Trier works extensively with light, sound, score and music to obtain and heighten dramatic atmosphere.
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A Radical little movie that actually claims to be, for an american point of view, the nightmare sort of european movie.
The whole of it (easily as long as your average LoTR flick) was shot in a single, old warehouse with minimal props.
For an example, they drew Streetnames and groundplans for housing on the floor with chalk to mark the setting. You donīt see a house or a door, but the actors use it as it were there. Light and Sound though are used perfectly and it creates a very theatre-like atmosphere.
Which on the other hand is offset again by real sounds and noises that really get your imagination going
I do admit that it is a bit wierd to watch for the first half hour or so, but after a while the movie really draws you in, not in the least because of Nicole Kidmans performance which easily outshines all her previous roles IMO. The whole frugality of the set and the optic (which the directer obviously uses to contrast "american" movies where every last and little detail is drawn before the camera, with horrendous budgets of CGI if it has to be, and nothing is ever left to the imagination) does create a very unique and memorable atmosphere that I havenīt ever experienced in a movie so far.
Watching a normal movie after this one certainly does indeed feel rather bland.
On the other hand, the movie wouldnīt be able to stand on its own if there wasnīt more to it than that. Even the setting and plot in the american rockies of the 30s by a director and screenwriter who never once visited the states (and is proud of that fact) and the way he flaunts the oddieties gives away quite well the curiosities that europeans see in american culture and society (which is infact quite different to what americans think that europeans think of americans).
The whole of it is a very daring experiment and I am glad that there are still movies out there (and actors! Ms. Kidman, Mr. Caan, your my new Heros) that dare to go so radically different ways. No few people out there (likely on this board as well) will just as soon flame this little flick for what it tries to attempt without ever even trying to have an unprejudiced look at it.
As far as I am concerned though, this little experiment resulted in an absolute masterpiece of motion picture. Most defenitly the movie of the Year. Go see it if you can.
