DANCER IN THE DARK

2000

Singer Bjork makes her acting debut as Selma, a single mother struggling with oncoming blindness due to a hereditary disease as she works to save money for an operation for her son who also will go blind without it. Did you get all that? Oh yeah, and its a musical and it has one of the most vicious murder scenes I've seen in awhile. This one got some big award at Cannes and I have to say it must have been for the great acting and the story. It certainly was not for the musical numbers, which were like having root canal -only without novocaine. The editing was horrible, real choppy and jarring and I don't think the cinematographer on this film ever heard of a tripod because it looks like the whole thing was filmed with dad's camcorder on their shoulder. What was I thinking seeing a movie with Bjork anyways?

1.5 Stars

CDF

Although I recognize this as a unique work of creative genius on the part of director Lars van Trier, as well as on the part of Bjork, who gives the finest female performance on screen this year, I still can't recommend this film to you. I'm hesitant, because watching it is one of the most painful experiences that I've ever had in a movie theater...the cinematic equivalent of assisted suicide. The winner of this year's Cannes Film Festival(Best Film and Best Actress,) "Dancer" tells the story of a feeble-minded factory worker, who is slowly going blind, and who is trying to save up enough money so that her son could be operated on; he has the same hereditary eye disease. Her life is so bleak, that she can only escape into musical fantasies, when things get too bad. Bjork is phenomenal, as are Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, and everyone else. The music(written by Bjork,) is dreadful! Be warned, if you do go to see it...I didn't recommend it.

1 to 5 Stars... YOU decide

NJB