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The Idiots review
Posted : 1 year, 2 months ago on 5 March 2023 02:32
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The Idiots review
Posted : 12 years, 6 months ago on 10 November 2011 10:10
Filmed in the Dogme 95 style, the handheld camera, dodgy sound and mis-matched cuts are at first a distraction, yet once the storyline draws you in they become almost unnoticeable.
The film follows a group of young adults, who routinely "spazz out" in public in order to indulge their "inner idiot". The scenes of their play are not only disturbingly accurate and sometimes distressing but showcase an extraordinary amount of acting talent in the cast. They are not only believable but also serve to question your own view on stereotypes of the mentally impaired. Do we see what we commonly think of mentally disabled people to be, or are their acts true to life? It's an uncomfortable question, and one that is important to the film, as seen through newcomer Karen's eyes - are the group mocking the mentally disabled or the people who they come into contact with?
The scene in which the group are forced to interact with actually mentally disabled visitors is key to the discussion, and really opens the eyes of both the actors and the viewer.
This whole theme pieced together with the infamous orgy scene which features real sex, serves to violate the viewer's comfort zone, while the final scene in which Karen returns home to deal with her family and a recent tragedy, leaves the film scarily open-ended with no resolution.
It's not for everyone, but The Idiots is a superbly acted and thoughtful piece of cinema that really challenges the viewer. It fully deserves its cult status.
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A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 9 months ago on 2 August 2011 08:10
Back then, there was a lot of hype surrounding the Dogme and this was the second movie featuring those rules. I was personally completely blown away by 'Festen' directed by Thomas Vinterberg which was the first movie featuring the Dogme rules so I was really eager to watch this second movie. Eventually, to be honest, I ended up with some mixed feelings. Indeed, the main issue here is that the whole thing seemed actually rather pointless to me. I mean, why do they in fact choose this way of life? Basically, you have a bunch of elitists who decided to act as mentally retarded people, that's it and the only reason I could come up with is that thanks to them Lars Von Trier could make this movie, that's all. Sure, I understand it worked as a critic towards our modern society but I still think it was far-fetched to believe that a group of people would choose to live like this. But even though it was flawed, I thought this flick was still really interesting. Indeed, as usual, this director manipulates the viewer and he manages to make this flick still rather fascinating. Eventually, even though it was not as amazing as 'Festen', it is still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Lars von Trier's work.
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