Capital Celluloid 2012 - Day 332: Tue Nov 27

The King is Alive (Levring, 2000): Ritzy Cinema, 6pm

The Ritzy are putting on a terrific Dogme 95 season this week. Here is their introduction to this excellent season: Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement conceived in 1995 by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Together they created the Dogme 95 Manifesto, which comprised of a set of rules designed to produce a pure filmmaking style based on the traditional values of narrative, performance and core themes, and to reject the use of elaborate post-production modifications. For the first time ever, we bring you a selection of films made according to this manifesto. Join us as we undress filmmaking on the big screen. All screenings will be introduced by a film industry professional who has been associated with or inspired by Dogme 95. More details here.

Chicago Reader review:
'Dogme 95, a Danish manifesto that calls for natural lighting, digital cinematography, and improvisational acting, seems to work best in films that strip down the psychology of a dysfunctional group in a single location and a limited time span (The Celebration). True to form, this 2000 Danish feature by Kristin Levring examines 11 passengers of a tour bus (including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Janet McTeer, Bruce Davison, Brion James, and Romane Bohringer) that breaks down at an abandoned mining town in the Namibian desert. Awaiting their rescue, the passengers endure primitive conditions and decide to stage King Lear; the project unleashes fear and loathing, and Levring wastes no opportunity to reference Shakespeare (as well as Lifeboat, Apocalypse Now, and Lord of the Flies). The venomous confrontations are shot mostly in close-up, which drags us into the melee, yet the script flits from one encounter to the next, leaving behind only gut-wrenching performances and a vivid feel for the locale—humid interiors and forlorn stretches of desert and dark, both symbolizing recesses of emotion that may otherwise have eluded us.'
Ted Shen

Here is the trailer.

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