Yer actual Keith Telly Topping blagged himself a freebie to go and see the press-showing of Lars von Trier's controversial movie Antichrist yesterday. Well ... that was certainly an experience I'm not going to forget in a hurry. It's a very well made film, I have to say that up front. It's astonshingly well-acted by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. In fact, it's got a lot going for it. It's just ... unwatchable. Graphic, gratuitous, disturbing, angry, wretched (in the broadest meaning of the word) and shocking. And, in places, sick. I mean, there is one particular bit in it - and, anybody who's read the plot will know, specifically, the bit I'm thinking of - where I almost spilled the breakfast that I didn't eat before going to see it. And, I am really not a squeamish man, I managed to sit through Last House of the Left without even blinking. Tame, compared to this. The closest thing I can think of to compare it to would be something like Passolini's 120 Days of Sodom - quite possibly a masterpiece, in its own convoluted way, but you really wouldn't want to watch it for pleasure. So, Antichrist - highly recommened, then. If, that is, your idea of "fun" is genital torture. Others may want to give it a miss. Although, admittedly, the talking fox was way-cool!A necessary PS: This review does not mean, in any way, that I associate myself with the views of Daily Mail. Just thought I'd point that out in case anyone was wondering. I was also rather amused by the assertion of the girl from The Times that the film proves von Trier 'hates women.' I think, if there's one thing that Antichrist proves overwhelmingly it's that Mr von Trier hates pretty much EVERYONE - including himself. (Anti-Everything would've been a much more appropriate title.) And, I - genuinely - don't have a problem with that or with him making films which reflect it. It keeps him off the streets, if nothing else. I just don't particularly want to watch them, that's all.
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