Lars von Trier's latest was in competition at Valladolid, 2006, where it shared the Best film Golden Spike award with Hanekes's "Caché Basic Plot: A gangster on the run from northern justice in 1930 finds a hiding place in Alabama at the Manderlay cotton plantation still being run under slavery rules, called Mam's law."Manderlay" is the quirky Dane's pseudo-American successor to "Dogville", From a purely personal point of view I must say that I regard Von Trier films as an acquired taste (like poison) which I have never acquired -- in fact I have always found them rather revolting and have never been able to sit through one of his schizzy nightmares from beginning to end -- although I did sort of make it through "Dogville" -- by sheer will power, with many cigarette breaks -- but mainly because of a fascination with Nicole Kidman's uncannily shapely nose. In short I thought "Dogville" was nothing but pretentious bullshit, and I couldn't believe that an actress like Lauren Bacalll lent her prestige to it, but -- I have to admit -- against my better judgement -- that I actually (sort of) liked "Manderlay". For one thing, Bacall, who was wooden in "Dogville", dies off in the first ten minutes, "Grace", who was Kidman in the first installment of this projected trilogy, has now metamorphosed into a less glamorous but far more credible actress, Bryce Dallas Howard, and a ponderous James Caan as Grace's gangster father, has been replaced by a more digestible (if slightly ridiculous) Willem Defoe, but what really makes "Manderlay" work as a drama (rather than a pretentious lecture on the sad state of the world by Lars von Trier) is the excellent cast of black actors, especially Danny Glover, but all uniformly good -- who somehow infuse this Von Trier head game with some real soul. Another thing which helps, is that Von Trier has mercifully gotten a little away from the overweaning Monopoly Board sets and invisible clicking doors which made "Dogville" unbearable after the first half hour. There is still, in "Manderlay", a certain amount of the artificial Monopoly Board geometry in place, but not so much that it totally distracts as it did in the earlier film. Who knows, maybe Part III will be set on a Ouija Board -- in any case, "Manderlay" has a certain feeling going for it that makes it far more watchable than any of Von Trier's previous sessions of celluloid sado-masochism. The title, incidentally, has nothing to do with Kipling's Mandalay, but is a co-opting of the name of the spooky mansion in Hitchcock's "Rebeccah". Here it is the name of a strange Alabama plantation where, in 1933, slavery is still going on and the slaves seem to like it that way -- for as head slave Danny Glover (great role) puts it, "We ain't reddy fo' no freedom yet -- we's better off dis way. Maybe he done got dat one right!

I had some difficulty wrapping my head around a production that was in part stage work (a play instead of a movie), and in part documentary. The story which is meant to educate people about a terrible period in American History, when the treatment of slaves and pseudo slaves was still practiced for a long time. The movie also makes a valiant attempt at the morality issues of the times. The ensemble cast was superb. I however could not see the reasoning in making such a project (low inde budget), since the target audiences, or even audiences in general, were not going to be satisfied by this and tune out very early. I rather think it was indulgent to go ahead anyway; the commercial flop it turned out to be only tells me the producers should have tripled the budget and more the make this a fully fledged feature movie. There at least would have been a real audience for it; that audience would have received the message the producers and cast wanted to make. But hey, it's just my humble opinions.

Manderlay (2005)** 1/2 (out of 4) Lars von Trier's follow-up to DOGVILLE has Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard replacing Nicole Kidman) and her gangster father (Willem Dafoe replacing James Caan) traveling in the South when they come across the town Manderlay. Grace is horrified to see a plantation owner (Lauren Bacall) still has slaves so after the old woman's death she decides to stay on board to try and teach the slaves why they should be free. I thought DOGVILLE was a masterpiece and one of the most creative movies I have ever seen. This sequel is still a good movie but I think it's several notches below the previous film for a number of reasons. The biggest problem I had with the film is that its story never really grabbed me and drew me into the events. I thought the screenplay, at times, had scenes just going on and on and for no reason other than the artistic style. I think another problem is that none of the supporting characters are all that interesting. Clocking in at 139-minutes, this is an extremely long film but it's actually nearly 40-minutes shorter than DOGVILLE. I think the lack of strong supporting characters really made the film drag in spots. DOGVILLE, on the other hand, had such a strong and wonderful supporting characters that you could easily get caught up in everything going on. As with DOGVILLE, this movie here goes for that theatrical look with everything being shot on a stage with "objects" being lined out in chalk. While the effect isn't nearly as dramatic as the previous film I thought the director still used it to good effect and his style was certainly brought to life. I really love the way von Trier shot the film and it almost comes off like a documentary because of how raw the footage is. Bryce Dallas Howard certainly isn't in the same league as Kidman but I thought she did an okay job. I thought she did a good job with the line delivery and building up the character but I didn't think she was nearly as intense as the part should have been and I can't help but wonder what would have happened at Kidman returned. Danny Glover is pretty good in his brief role as is Bacall who it's always great to see. Dafoe only appears in a couple scenes but he too turns in a good performance but, as is the case with so much of this film, he falls short of Caan. MANDERLAY is certainly adventurous in its subject matter and there's no question that the style is something all to its own. The movie is certainly a good one but it's still easy to call it a disappointment considering how far off it was from the previous movie in the series.

Danish director Lars Von Trier continues his Deep South adventure with this fable about race, power, isolation and freedom.Like 2003's Dogville, there is something refreshingly literal about Von Trier's screenplay. That's not to say it lacks subtext - it is abundant - but at times its political convictions are presented like a series of political soundbites. While the blank theatre-style set is perhaps not used as effectively as it was in Dogville, the technique again adds weight to the bluntness of the key polemics.Von Trier's magic is in tackling weighty subject matter in a very watchable way. Dancer In The Dark, for example, probably his most powerful deconstruction of the American Dream, showed us a new twist on the classical Hollywood musical; and without patronising its heritage it made a pertinent political point. Like that masterpiece, Manderlay demands the audience leave their expectations at the door whilst offering a reasonably straightforward narrative containing some satisfying plot twists and a surprising amount of dark humour. It may be less genre-specific than Dancer In The Dark, but like all this ex-Dogme director's latter films, it is accessible, neat and tight, and fleet of foot.Von Trier presents yet another spiky woman-in-peril. Bryce Dallas Howard takes over from Nicole Kidman as the idealistic Grace. She turns out to be the ideal choice, too - there's a broadness to the shoulders and a steeliness to the eyes of this stronger, wiser heroine. Those who have Von Trier marked down as a misogynist will be pleased (or possibly disappointed) to hear that this troubled heroine is his most powerful and least set-upon to date. John Hurt, Chloe Sevigny, Jeremy Davies, Udo Kier, Lauren Bacall and Von Trier regular Jean-Marc Barr all return for another round of selfless bit parts.Those concerned with the idea of watching a movie without a set shouldn't worry - it's practically unnoticeable after a time, thanks largely to the quality and intensity of the drama. This is classy, intelligent film-making from a talented and consistent auteur.