Melancholia is a movie that I had no idea what to expect.
I ran across this movie while watching another video talking about creative ideas. This seemed to be the headlining movie, suggesting that this was a movie with a really creative idea and it may have gotten overlooked when you talk about movies that came out in 2011. On top of that, when I looked at the cast, I really liked a lot of the people involved including Kirsten Dunst and Kiefer Sutherland. On top of that, the images that come along with this movie make it seem like a very unique movie. What I will say to that is... there is a lot of misdirection in this movie. From the little prologue at the beginning, to the images I saw previewing this movie on Netflix. Disclaimer: Kirsten Dunst never gets electrical powers.
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| This is a very misleading picture |
Regardless, I wanted to check out the movie because whether or not it had anything to do with the supernatural or not, the fact still remained that this seemed like a creative enough idea and I wanted to watch something different.
Melancholia is split into two parts. The movie centers around two sisters. The first part is about Justine (played by Kirsten Dunst). It is her wedding day but something just seems to be off with her.
She seems to have this very elaborate party, paid for by her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her husband Jonathan (played by Kiefer Sutherland). She seems to have a very successful job working for an ad agency under Stellan Skargard's character. And she seems to have a very loving and doting husband in Alexander Skarsgard's character. But throughout the entire first act of the film, Justine seemed unhappy.
And I'm not gonna lie, the first half of this movie is really, REALLY slow.
Like I'm sure if I sat down and really thought about this movie I'm sure a lot of it would connect to the second half a lot more but I'm honestly drawing a blank. There's so much back and forth from Justine, showing how she is trying to be happy, she is trying to enjoy this conventional happiness in front of her. And I guess at a certain point it gives a good perspective on people with depression or perhaps its talking about people not fitting into the norms or conventions we want to set up for them. Maybe this first act is all about breaking those bonds and just going off and doing whatever the fuck makes you happy.
Here's the issue though. You're sitting there watching this and the only introduction you have to this character is that she stares a lot with those definitely high Kirsten Dunst doe eyes, she can't keep a genuine smile for shit, and she can't decide what she wants. At a certain point, you kind of agree with the characters who are getting impatient with her and you just want her to get her shit together.
Now I tell you this because while you may be sitting there watching the first act of this movie, and yeah, you might fall asleep or get bored, I think the reason this movie is considered a really creative idea is due to the second act of this film.
In the second act, Justine has moved into the large house of her sister and her husband and she's definitely dealing with some kind of depression or something. I suppose the first act is a good way to set that up as it were and show you the turmoil she's going through and where she's headed in the second act because she is really at her lowest.
HOWEVER, the more important part of the story, and the part that is actually a lot more interesting is the fact that there is a planet called, Melancholia on a flyby course near Earth. Jonathan, Justine's brother in law/ Claire's husband, is a scientist who studies the stars and he is overly excited for the planet to pass by Earth. However, Claire is nervous because there have been reports that instead of just flying by Earth, Melancholia is actually on a collision course with our planet and it could lead to the destruction of Earth. Jonathan dismisses those theories and instead focuses on the excitement of the event.
Again, this is where things get really interesting. Claire and her husband show two sides of the same coin if an event like this were ever to happen. And this is not that far fetched of a situation. I'm not talking about a planet coming our way, but I've heard stories of asteroids or other space debris on a collision course with Earth that have been rumored to end our existence. This is actually a really interesting concept because you don't know exactly what is going to happen and what everyone's reaction is going to be if it does happen.
Well... except for Kirsten Dunst.
Kirsten Dunst has this real knack for just standing in the same place, or having the exact same face in any situation and calling it acting. And again, I get it, in this movie she's suppose to have some kind of illness, or depression, or superpowers, I'm still not totally sure about what her deal is, but at least have some kind of reaction to a freaking planet headed towards Earth. And I think I know what they were trying to do, they were trying to have her point out the hopelessness of the entire situation, regardless of whether or not it collides that there is literally nothing humans can do. But there had to have been some other way to play that, some other direction she should have gotten other than stare blankly into space.
Like I have kind of alluded to already, the real stand outs in this movie are Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland.
The two of them really do do a great job at balancing out the shock and awe of a phenomena like this is. I have a little bit of a bias towards Kiefer Sutherland because of how many years I just watched 24 on repeat, but Charlotte Gainsbourg was really good in this movie and I didn't really know that was going to be my reaction when I first started this movie. That being said, the first act of this movie is really boring so I didn't really know what to expect in general. And hey, if you're watching the first half of this movie and you like it, no harm no foul, I wouldn't blame anybody for getting caught up in a little bit of the drama that goes on in the first act, I just thought it was a little tedious and didn't connect enough to the second act which I thought was a lot more confined and allowed for three talented actors, Dunst, Gainsbourg, and Sutherland to really show off what they can do.
So overall, how do I feel about Melancholia? Overall, I'd say its a really slow movie. If you're a fan of Richard Wagner's orchestration Tristan und Isolde you're going to hear that song played... over and over... and over... and over... and over again. Its not a bad song and I guess it fits, but it gets really annoying really quick. In my opinion you're going to enjoy the second half of this movie more than the first half. I think you have some good performances, but overall, the movie falls a little bit flat for me. But if you like pretty low budget independent films, Melancholia might be the one for you.
But what do you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.
I'll leave you with this. I'm not sure which part of this music video is funnier, how seriously Kirsten Dunst is taking this song about turning Japanese, or how uncomfortable a lot of the people in this music video look. Enjoy!
And I'm not gonna lie, the first half of this movie is really, REALLY slow.
Like I'm sure if I sat down and really thought about this movie I'm sure a lot of it would connect to the second half a lot more but I'm honestly drawing a blank. There's so much back and forth from Justine, showing how she is trying to be happy, she is trying to enjoy this conventional happiness in front of her. And I guess at a certain point it gives a good perspective on people with depression or perhaps its talking about people not fitting into the norms or conventions we want to set up for them. Maybe this first act is all about breaking those bonds and just going off and doing whatever the fuck makes you happy.
Here's the issue though. You're sitting there watching this and the only introduction you have to this character is that she stares a lot with those definitely high Kirsten Dunst doe eyes, she can't keep a genuine smile for shit, and she can't decide what she wants. At a certain point, you kind of agree with the characters who are getting impatient with her and you just want her to get her shit together.
Now I tell you this because while you may be sitting there watching the first act of this movie, and yeah, you might fall asleep or get bored, I think the reason this movie is considered a really creative idea is due to the second act of this film.
HOWEVER, the more important part of the story, and the part that is actually a lot more interesting is the fact that there is a planet called, Melancholia on a flyby course near Earth. Jonathan, Justine's brother in law/ Claire's husband, is a scientist who studies the stars and he is overly excited for the planet to pass by Earth. However, Claire is nervous because there have been reports that instead of just flying by Earth, Melancholia is actually on a collision course with our planet and it could lead to the destruction of Earth. Jonathan dismisses those theories and instead focuses on the excitement of the event.
Well... except for Kirsten Dunst.
Kirsten Dunst has this real knack for just standing in the same place, or having the exact same face in any situation and calling it acting. And again, I get it, in this movie she's suppose to have some kind of illness, or depression, or superpowers, I'm still not totally sure about what her deal is, but at least have some kind of reaction to a freaking planet headed towards Earth. And I think I know what they were trying to do, they were trying to have her point out the hopelessness of the entire situation, regardless of whether or not it collides that there is literally nothing humans can do. But there had to have been some other way to play that, some other direction she should have gotten other than stare blankly into space.
Like I have kind of alluded to already, the real stand outs in this movie are Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland.
So overall, how do I feel about Melancholia? Overall, I'd say its a really slow movie. If you're a fan of Richard Wagner's orchestration Tristan und Isolde you're going to hear that song played... over and over... and over... and over... and over again. Its not a bad song and I guess it fits, but it gets really annoying really quick. In my opinion you're going to enjoy the second half of this movie more than the first half. I think you have some good performances, but overall, the movie falls a little bit flat for me. But if you like pretty low budget independent films, Melancholia might be the one for you.
But what do you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.
I'll leave you with this. I'm not sure which part of this music video is funnier, how seriously Kirsten Dunst is taking this song about turning Japanese, or how uncomfortable a lot of the people in this music video look. Enjoy!
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