#34: Ordet

Ordet (1955, Dreyer)

This is the third Dreyer film I've seen and the third that's fallen flat with me. His entire style is drab and off-putting. Everybody moves and talks really slowly, and have entire conversations looking off in random directions instead of at each other. They all deliver their lines like they're fortelling the end of days, usually without moving their heads at all. The characters are simplistic and one dimensional and seem to have no vision beyond their own closed circle. They're also so singular in their motivation and ideology they barely come off as human.

The other two Dreyer films I've seen are Day of Wrath and Vampyr. All three are staged like a silent film -- but Vampyr is the only one that actually is one. I'm not even sure I want to spend the money Passion of Joan of Arc would cost, just in the name of finishing the whole top 100.

I do have a few positive things to say about the movie. It shows the same contempt between orthodox Christianity and secular Christianity that still fractures the religion today, with the same mutual elitism. The central question of the film about whether miracles still happen in present day is hard for me to connect with because I don't believe in the supernatural, but in the context of the film it's a potent theme. But that question should have been answered more subtly. Instead it all comes off as a Sunday School parable.

Rating: ** 1/2 / 5

And, some other films I've seen meanwhile that are not in the TSPDT top 100.

The Life And Death of Colonel Blimp:

It poses the question of 'Should we fight with our principles when the enemy doesn't' decades before Jack Bauer first tortured.

****/5 (High art value, low entertainment value)

Avatar:

Great visuals as expected, cliche story as expected. It does tell the cliche story well enough to be really entertaining, but the last sixty minutes could have stood to be a little less predictable and formulaic.

****/5 (High entertainment value, low art value)

The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeouisis:

The whole dream upon dream upon dream thing can be a bit tacky, but I like the nuanced way it gets at people who aspire to be seen as part of the upper class when it's clear to everyone they're only posing.

**** 1/2 /5 (High in both)