"Incendies" - Denis Villeneuve (2011)

I watched "Incendies" a couple of weeks ago and was just torn apart by it.

The film opens this Friday in Kansas City and everybody needs to see it.

This film is devastating and brilliant.

It's the story of a brother and sister who are each given an envelope when their mother dies.

One is a letter to a brother neither of them knew existed and the other is for their father who they both thought was dead.

The story unwraps at a perfect pace as Jeanne and Simon head to the Middle East to solve the mysteries they've been handed.

This is how their mother's story is told and it unfolds with brutality.


Revenge, war, violence and sadism don't just mark the landscape of the region, they marked this woman's life.

The plot has a couple twists, but they aren't just there for the sake of having a twist.

I'm afraid to say much more except see this when it opens this weekend.

"Incendies" wasn't the best film nominated for Best Foreign Language at the Oscars this year. That distinction still goes to "Dogtooth."

But it's pretty damn brilliant.

Von Trier's Cast Stands Behind Their Filmmaker (sort of)

Okay, let me explain. No, there is no time. Let me sum up.

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier was kicked out of Cannes earlier this week for saying that he found pleasure in the fact that he was “really a Nazi.”
Not only that, but the distribution company decided to bail on him because of the controversy.

So, the cast was asked about the whole mess.

When asked if she would work with Lars von Trier again after his incendiary remarks at the press conference for “Melancholia” at Cannes, Kirsten Dunst said, "Yes, I would work with him, yeah.” But she qualified her endorsement of the filmmaker, saying, “It's unfortunate that he joked about that, it is very inappropriate."



But Stellan Skarsgard, who worked with von Trier in “Breaking the Waves,” threw all his support behind his director. "He can say anything, but what you always have to consider is the thought and meaning behind the words, not the words themselves and everybody knows he is not a Nazi, he was a Jew for 33 years,” Skarsgard argued. “It's absolutely ridiculous and it's embarrassing for the Cannes Film Festival that they behave like this."

Von Trier Uproar

Hey folks, it's been a while.

I've more or less neglected all of my online personas to catch up on sleep for the past month.

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier has been kicked out of the Cannes film festival for saying that he found pleasure in the fact that he was “really a Nazi.”

"Melancholia" is still in the competition for prizes, which will be handed out at a closing ceremony Sunday.

Von Trier said afterward he had been joking and apologized.

The best part is Kirsten Dunst’s reaction as he’s making the comments.