Introducing the world's first "feel-miserable" musical: "Dancer in the Dark," a film that's as drab and dreary as most musicals are bright and chirpy.
However, just because this noble, even interesting but also long and ultimately flawed experiment tries to do something different with an almost painfully clichd genre doesn't make it any more watchable for most unsuspecting audiences.
And to be honest, the idea has been done outside of cinema for several hundred years — seeing as how most operas are tragic in nature.
Perhaps the film's ability to both irritate and enthrall shouldn't come as a surprise, especially when you consider that it comes from a director, Dane Lars Von Trier, whose works regularly polarize both film critics and filmgoers.
Besides his many innovations here, perhaps his biggest accom-
plishment this time is turning Icelandic singer Bjork into an actress, and a very good one at that. She stars as Selma Jezkova, a Czech immigrant who loves American musicals.
She's also a single mother dedicated to her 10-year-old son, Gene (Vladan Kostic). Just to keep the boy clothed and fed, she works in a tool-and-die factory and also cards hairpins to make extra money.
But Selma is keeping two secrets: She's going blind from a hereditary disease and has been saving money for an operation — not for her but for Gene, whom she also believes will be afflicted.
She makes the mistake of confessing both to her neighbor and landlord Bill (an underused David Morse), a local police officer on the verge of bankruptcy. When the money disappears, Selma knows exactly who to blame, but she's not prepared for what Bill is about to ask of her.
That seems like plenty of material to work with, but that's just half of the story. There's also Selma's ability to escape reality, albeit briefly, through musical numbers (the industrial clanging and clanking provides her rhythm).
To differentiate between the stark reality and fantasy, Von Trier shoots the former sequences in his customary handheld, "shakycam" format, while the latter scenes are shot in a more traditional style.
It's a bold move but one that's also surprisingly distracting (those who got nauseated by the camera work in "The Blair Witch Project" will need Dramamine just to see this one). And the sheer ugliness and brutality of some of the "real-life" material is perhaps too stark a contrast with the at-least-somewhat-optimistic "dream-life" sequences.
Von Trier also spends too much time with his experimentations and not enough on character development, which is why he's lucky to have such a talented cast. As Selma, Bjork gives a surprisingly natural, unforced performance, while screen veteran Catherine Deneuve is wonderful as her best friend.
"Dancer in the Dark" is rated R for an extremely disturbing scene of violence (involving both gunplay and a bludgeoning), graphic gore and use of some mild profanities. Running time: 140 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com