Manderlay (2005)

34 out of 44 people found the following review helpful:

A Challenging Film

A Customer from London, England, 5th March, 2006

This film is guaranteed to produce polarized reactions from viewers. Set shortly after the events of Dogville, Manderlay deposits Grace and a group of gangsters at an Alabama cotton plantation where slavery is still in force seventy years after the Civil War. Naturally, she emancipates the slaves and then forces the plantation's owners to work side by side with them. This being Lars von Trier, what results is no fairy tale. The issues that are explored are very contentious and this is far from an easy watch. However, even if you hate everything that von Trier has to say, the film will at least make you ask questions and you will be thinking about it long after it's finished. Don't leave before the end credits have run either, as they are very much part of the film. This sure ain't Wedding Crashers, but cinema thrives on diversity and I feel that it is well worth watching and discussing.

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10 out of 15 people found the following review helpful:

promise me i'll never be trapped in a lift with 'von' trier

lloyd from , 17th October, 2007

i'd love to say this was a noble attempt at dealing with serious societal issues, but instead it's just an annoyingly smug 'moral tale' from arch simplifier and stone-thrower, lars 'von' trier. does 'mandalay' raise serious issues? yes. does it deal with them well or do them (or the audience) justice? not for my money. theatrically and stylistically, if you've seen 'dogville' you really don't need to see this; morally, if you need 2-and-1/4-hour sermons on the bleedin' obvious to fuel meaningless, momentary white-european indignation, then this'll be right up your alley. self-righteous nonsense. worse, simply tedious. in any way entertaining or thought-provoking? um, no. trying to be too damn clever-clever for it's own good? absolutely.

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7 out of 9 people found the following review helpful:

Lars pushing his luck.........

hammer99 from from Chelmsford, 10th March, 2006

I thought that 'Dogville' was fantastic and 'Breaking the Waves' and 'Dancer in the Dark' are two of the best I've ever seen (thereby establishing my Von Trier credentials). This one, however, just didn't do it for me. The stage format worked magnificently with 'Dogville' mainly due to its novelty and the extraordinary performances of it's 'A' list stars: Kidman, Gazzara, Bacall, Caan and Anderson. However, Bacall doesn't last long in this sequel and Bryce Howard just doesn't have the star quality or subtlety of the great Nicole. Glover plays the same sympathetic but ultimately irritating character he always plays. The rest of the cast are mediocre at best and the story is plodding and predictable - there is a twist but it fails to get the pulse racing. There's still one more film left in the trilogy - let's hope the director gets out on location for it.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review helpful:

Pretentious? Maybe. Good? Definitely.

Richard Lewis from North East of England, 19th June, 2006

Like Dogville, the lack of set and the strange narrative style gives this a feel of a group of sixth formers trying to disguise their lack of prop-buying funds as radical theatre. But look beyond this, and Von Trier tells an enthralling story, complete with twists, which is well worth following to it's thought provoking conclusion. Easy to watch? No, and not just because it looks like it's filmed in a warehouse. It deals with heavy subject matter, pulls no punches, and left me with more questions than it answered. But then, that's what good films do.

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This ain't Dogville!

A Customer from Hampton, 6th November, 2008

Dogville was amazing. It was new, different, stylish and auteristic...plus it had a hard-hitting narrative and superb execution. Manderlay however... The style is practically the same, although I felt there were too many props and items on the stage this time round. I preferred the moe basic look of Dogville. And when the film started and I saw that this was goin to be a film about racial issues in the southern states of the USA, I thought that this would have a good story to tell. And I'm kind of right, it does...but there's definitely something missing this time around. The tough topic of slavery doesn't quite work in Manderlay. I felt that Lars was almost trying to go over his own head with this one. He let it slip out of his delicate grasp and lost his way. I struggled to remaim interested for all 135 mins, which is a shame as this should have been a movie that deserved to be watched! It seems as if Lars went from top quality drama with Dogville to up his own arse with Manderlay. The acting isn't as good, although Bryce Dallas Howard definitely does her best! I felt almost sorry for her when it came to the gratuitous sex scene. I felt it was only there to out-do the sex scene in Dogville... Anyway, if you liked Dogville, then I don't think there's much need for you to watch Manderlay. If you haven't seen either, then give Manderlay a watch first maybe, and end on a high... But for fear of this putting you off another Lars film, then move straight to Dogville!

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Manderlay - My Review

A Customer from Ulan Bator, 3rd November, 2008

The sequel to Dogville is a sequel in a stylistic sense rather than story-wise, and the disappearance of Nicole Kidman does make it slightly more confusing, however this is an even better film than Dogville. I enjoyed Dogville but didn't really get what it was angry about, whereas Manderlay is very focussed and really benefits from being two hours (rather than the three hours of Dogville). Great performances and very thought provoking.

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Dark rivers of the heart

Whipster from from Shropshire, 29th September, 2008

Dogville, imho, was an absolute triumph. Lars Von Trier's follow-up, Manderlay, uses the same studio sound stage idea and it works brilliantly. The casting is very good yet I can't help thinking it would have been amazing if N.Kidman had been persuaded to repeat her role. Two thirds of the way through my interest began to wane but the sledge hammer revelation at the close is a stunner, so any initial criticisms I may have had were forgotten. The story twists uncomfortably around racism and our interpretation of what that word actually means. Yep...this is gonna annoy the hell out of some, but for others it will deliver a thought provoking and poignant message.

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A Big No

blackvelvety2k from from liverpool, 9th September, 2008

Was very disappointed in this, kept falling asleep.

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