Lars Von Trier: Genius or jerkoff? It’s a question I’ve struggled to answer for decades now, and on this week’s Someone Else’s Movie I get just a little closer, since director Kristoffer Borgli chose Von Trier’s 1998 Dogme project The Idiots for the podcast.
The Idiots was, at the time, seen as Von Trier’s most provocative work — though it’d later be surpassed by Antichrist and The House That Jack Built — and I have never been all that fond of it. But Kristoffer saw it at just the right time, I guess, and it’s certainly influenced his work as a filmmaker, which is provocative and weird in its own specific way. (Have you seen Dream Scenario? You should really see Dream Scenario.)
Give it a listen! Subscribe at the usual locations — Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify — or download the episode directly from the web and listen to it while annoying people in the public space of your choice.
And then you should get caught up on your Shiny Things, since last week I went deep on Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and the new Criterion edition of Claude Chabrol’s La Ceremonie, as well as the label’s new Janus Contemporaries imprint. Subscribe already!