Nymphomaniac vol 1 & 2.
When Seligman (Stellen Skarsgard) finds Joe (charlotte Gainsbourg) beaten in an alley he takes her home to give her a clean up and a cup of tea. In return Joe recounts her life story, a highly graphic tale of addiction, desire,self loathing, sexual identity and gender politics that's sprawls across two films in some kind of twisted, almost profound epic. Almost a hybrid of a modern day Anna Karenina by way of Sigmund Freud.
It's hard going in places, and while i'm pretty used to Lars von trier by now he can still deliver intelligent thought provoking cinema with the power to shock. My only gripe with the film is Shia LeBouef who has an almost toxic presence in the film. He's really awful, miscast and mangles his characters accent. But then I wonder if that's the whole point with the casting. Sometimes with Von Trier you never know.
The Demented.
After the 4 hour sexual Odyssey was out the way I needed a little light relief. The anchor bay four film zombie collection was through my door when I got in from work so as a sort of come down I gave the first film in the set a go.
Pretty much generic from the get go, a bunch of over achieving douche bags head out to the middle of nowhere to party. Baffling since new Orleans is not that far away. These mystic terrorists that film makers rely on launch their highly elaborate biological warfare agents on rockets. One comes down and the teens need to stay alive and try and escape.
So, ok the premise is baffling when you consider most terrorists these days are 'tramps up a hill' (to paraphrase Chris morris Four lions) and sure its generic as hell but it's pretty much what it looks like. An entertaining enough, very predictable slice of Zombie mayhem that manages to offer a reasonably entertaining 90 minutes of bland fun.
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