Manderlay

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

The second in Lars von Trier's USA: Land of Opportunities trilogy which is as yet unfinished. It follows on from the events in Dogville and keeps the unusual Brechtian epic theatre style, with no sets and minimal props. Bryce Dallas Howard takes over the role of Grace from Nicole Kidman and she's pretty darn good too.

I find Manderlay more concise than Dogville (although I have not seen the 3 hour cut of that film) and also slightly more intriguing. Not only is the style Brechtian but so is the story it tells. Still he is filming with Dogma '95 style here with a lot of handheld and SD cameras which looks a little odd when further cropped to widescreen. But everything is in keeping with the ideals of story first and everything else becomes secondary.

Thankfully the story is great, as is the cast.