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Reviews

The Boss of It All

Since when do we believe Lars von Trier?

By PETER KEOUGH | May 30, 2007

2.5 Stars

WHO'S THE BOSS? Lars von Trier needs to lay off the jump cuts, already!

Lars von Trier interrupts his film at the very beginning to warn viewers that it’s “not worth reflecting on,” but since when did we believe him? Indeed, The Boss of It All reflects on the mysteries of identity, responsibility, globalization, and Gambini’s æsthetics of theater. This last item is fictitious, but that doesn’t prevent the aspiring actor Kristoffer (Jens Albinus) from embracing it and making himself unemployable — except by Ravn (Peter Gantzler), a passive-aggressive businessman who wants Kristoffer to pose as the president of his company so he can sell it to a jerk from Iceland. Kristoffer finds himself in a position familiar to viewers at least since James Stewart was put in office to be a patsy in Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Will our hero respond with Caprae-sque idealism or stay true to his Gambinian theater of cruelty? It’s a funny bagatelle that might have been funnier if this director — lay off the jump cuts, already! — were more Capra-esque himself.

Related: Road rules, Manderlay, All-American?, More

Road rules
Dogme is out, done for, as are Lars von Trier’s sly strictures on making Dogme films: only natural lighting, the actors must wear their real clothes, etc.
Manderlay
Lars von Trier’s Manderlay has something to offend everyone: blacks, whites, conservatives, liberals, and those who, like myself, found Dogville a bold if flawed experiment.
All-American?
Flash back to Cannes, 2003, the press conference for Dogville . Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier leaned toward his superstar lead, Nicole Kidman, and put her on the spot before the international press.
Review: Antichrist
Lars von Trier’s controversial freak-out is Saw VI as told by Carl Dreyer. Is that a good thing? It certainly has grabbed everybody’s attention. I’m torn between dismissing the film as gross-out juvenilia and regarding it as raw religious mythmaking.
Interview: Lars von Trier of Antichrist
Maybe it’s the blurring effect of the Skype technology through which I’m interviewing him as he sits worried and Buddha-like in his headquarters in Denmark (he has a phobia about airplanes, among other things), but Lars von Trier seems like an okay guy.
Endangered tongues
You may have read: the world is getting smaller.
Bloodless diamonds
If the Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle Blood Diamond gets remembered for anything, it would be for the attention it’s drawn to the injustice that has risen alongside globalization in Africa.
Cannes goods
Quick — name a world-class film-festival administrator willing to reveal that at age 12 he was titillated by the sight of clodhopper-shod Minnie Mouse stomping on Mickey's tail in a French comic book.
The dirty story behind local energy
It’s hard to imagine that a town as poor as this one could have a slum.
Mardi Gras: Made in China
David Redman’s film takes a tiny aspect of globalization and makes a case about the new class warfare between corporations and individuals.
New source for savings: outsource the economists
Outsourcing used to be for textile workers and call-center employees.
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