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Final paintings, final books, and final films are often read into because of their terminating chronology. Did the artist know they were close to death? How is that shown in the art? When he died in 1968, Carl Dreyer had many projects lined up, including Medea and Jesus of Nazareth, which he had been preparing and researching for years, to the point of learning Hebrew. His last films, Ordet in 1955 and Gertrud in 1964, embody the exacting visual style he forged during his fifty-five-year career—a style he explicated in short essays written ten and twenty years before Gertrud. Being a director who worked with and without sound, we should trust Dreyer when he says film “first and foremost directs itself to the eye, and that the picture far, far more easily than the spoken word penetrates deeply into a spectator’s consciousness.”1 Gerturd is as much about the eponymous character's face...

Breaking the Waves

Written by Lars von Trier and Peter Asmussen

Directed by Lars von Trier

Denmark, 1996

Director Lars von Trier is nothing if not creative. From films like Epidemic in 1987 and Europa in 1991, to last year’s two-part Nymphomaniac, he has managed to bring a continually imaginative photographic and narrative formula to nearly all of his films, the best of which ultimately end up masterpieces of contemporary international cinema. It was arguably his 1996 feature, Breaking the Waves, that first, and most dramatically, catapulted him to the front ranks of modern-day global filmmaking, particularly within the arthouse arena and festival circuit, and understandably so. This affecting film is a powerful work that delves deeply into often unspoken and unconventional recesses of faith and love. Its themes are profound, its performances staggering throughout, and its visual palette and filmic technique are replete with saturated hues, vigorous camera work, and an unabashed intimacy.

How childhood camping and a trip to the Keswick pencil museum helped the star write a top new British horror movie

It's 1pm on a Wednesday, and the cafes of Bethnal Green Road are rammed. Which is all well and good if you want cheap pasta and East End ambience, but ruinous for dictaphone chinwags. Somehow, Alice Lowe still manages to spot a dining establishment utterly devoid of character, and, indeed, customers. During the 90 minutes we spend in there, it's just us. Which is perfect for a discussion about murder.

The juxtaposition of the humdrum and the grisly is apt. Sightseers, British director Ben Wheatley's third and funniest film (after the less chucklesome horrors of Down Terrace and Kill List), finds a downtrodden couple enjoying a revelatory first holiday together, a caravanning trip where barbaric violence tracks their rapidly developing relationship. Think Nuts In May meets Badlands, although comparisons...

Willem Dafoe and Udo Kier will reunite with Lars von Trier for his new film "Nymphomaniac," completing a cast that already includes Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Shia Labeouf, Jamie Bell, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Connie Nielsen and Stacy Martin. Dafoe reunites with Lars von Trier for the third time (after 2005's "Manderlay" and 2009's "Antichrist," which also starred "Nympho" cast member Gainsbourg). Kier, meanwhile, started working with Trier in 1988 in the film "Medea" and has since then starred in "Europe," "Breaking The Waves," "The Kingdom," "Dogville," "Manderlay" and "Melancholia." The film is described as "the wild and poetic story of a woman’s erotic journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main character, the self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe (Gainsbourg). On a cold winter’s evening the old,...

Motion posters are all the rage right now, and despite all of the ruckus regarding Lars von Trier recently, Magnolia is still pushing along his new film Melancholia for its release. In fact, if you want to watch it this evening, it's available On-Demand right now. In the meantime, Yahoo has debuted this new motion poster for the apocalyptic drama, starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland and Alexander Skarsgård. I love the glowing overlay of the star map and the brief bit of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" music as part of the poster, it finally captures the atmosphere of the film perfectly. Take a look! Justine (Dunst) and Michael (Skarsgård) are celebrating their marriage at a party in the home of her sister (Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law. Meanwhile, the planet Melancholia, is heading towards Earth... Melancholia is both written & directed by controversial/brilliant Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, of films like Medea,...

Lars von Trier hasn’t exactly shied away from the lime light this year. First, in a press conference to promote Melancholia, he publicly made odd statements about being related to Nazis and Hitler, then he was granted a persona non grata—from Cannes. Which means he is banned. Then he apologized and then he took those apologizes back. Now Lars von Trier will no longer give interviews from this day forth.

In a statement released by his publicist, Trier said,

Today at 2 pm I was questioned by the Police of North Zealand in connection with charges made by the prosecution of Grasse in France from August 2011 regarding a possible violation of prohibition in French law against justification of war crimes. The investigation covers comments made during the press conference in Cannes in May 2011. Due to these serious accusations I have realized that I do not possess the skills to...

Enjoy it while it lasts. Someone out there was listening to my rants about the lackluster posters for Lars von Trier's Melancholia. A new set of character posters for the indie drama have been released via Empire, and there are five for the main characters in the movie, and one for Lars von Trier himself. Yes, von Trier, persona non grata from Cannes, gets his own character poster, complete with his personalized stamp in the corner. There's also individual posters for Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, John Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland and Alexander Skarsgård. I really like this series, these are actually good - check them out! Justine (Dunst) and Michael (Skarsgård) are celebrating their marriage at a party in the home of her sister (Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law. Meanwhile, the planet Melancholia, is heading towards Earth... Melancholia is both written & directed by controversial/brilliant Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, of films like Medea,...