Cannes 2011: Melancholia Reviews

Lars van Trier's latest Melancholia released a weird, and uninteresting trailer not too long ago. However, not neccessarily dreadful, it is already dividing critics, with some saying it is incredible, and others simply not buying into it.

Eric Cohn at Indiewire calls it "Dark Apocalyptic Masterpiece". and goes on further to say:

"The greatest possible expression of Von Trier’s recent “no more happy endings” edict, “Melancholia” is supremely operatic, enlivened by its cosmic sensibility, and yet amazingly rendered on an intimate scale. Beyond its opening and closing minutes, the movie’s appeal mainly comes from its fine-tuned performances, each of which adds to the developing sense of dread."

Lisa Schwarzbaum  from Entertainment Weekly

"Although Melancholia, by its very title, declares a mournful state of mind, the movie is, in fact, the work of a man whose slow emergence from personal crisis has resulted in a moving masterpiece, marked by an astonishing profundity of vision."
 
But others are not so smitten with this film:
 
Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian writes,
 
"If Melancholia had been conceived with real passion or imagination, or if it had been well written or convincingly acted in any way at all, it might have been a loopy masterpiece."
 
It seems that while some will not take to the film (maybe a lot like last year's Black Swan), that enough cirtics will like it, and many will be insanely passionate about it, to push it to indie box office success, and maybe awards success as well. In this case, it will take more reviews, and American audience reaction to see if it has legs for the long Oscar season.