grantss Grace is on the run from a criminal gang. She seeks refuge in the small town of Dogville, Colorado. The townspeople help her out, but their assistance comes at a price.Highly original story-telling from writer-director Lars Von Trier. The entire movie is shot on a basic stage. The entire town is there, with tape on the ground indicating buildings, walls and streets. A very basic setting for a powerful moral.As the story progresses you see Von Trier's vision - showing the worst instincts of humankind. This he does very successfully and poetically. It's almost Shakespeare-like, especially in how the story is resolved.Superb end-product, though I can see how the movie can be polarising. I am not generally into movies and directors who concentrate more on being arty than telling a good story. With the novel set, I can see how some people may find the movie pretentious. Personally I found it revolutionary, as it strips everything down to the bare minimum, prop-wise, having to rely entirely on character depth and story-telling. Quite the opposite of pretentious, as there is no style - it's all substance.

anuraagt What a movie! Spare, elegant, fantastic acting from Nicole Kidman, and a horrifying, queasy plot. It's amazing to me how Lars von Trier's stripped away so many of the canons of what we expect from a film, and still made something incredibly fresh and vivid. It just works! I'm amazed that it does, but it does. To me, that's mastery.I also loved the casting, think everybody in the cast was just right for the role. Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Chloë Sevigny, everybody got a chance to just act, and to me the subtlety and power of getting to focus on the actors and their body language and faces was brilliant. Loved it!Finally the writing and plot. To me it felt like every word was just right. John Hurt's narration as well. I think for me really liking the cast, plus a super original take on sets and lighting, plus a beautifully written scrip, just made it all come together in a very compelling way. Must watch and recommend!

CineMuseFilms If you have never heard of Dogville (2003) you are not alone. Three hours is a lot to invest in what some call a blatantly anti-American diatribe in an experimental hybrid of theatre and film. But this avant-garde masterpiece should be seen, at least in part, by anyone who is serious about modern cinema. Danish director Lars von Trier has located the tiny hamlet of Dogville in America for many reasons but this allegorical meditation on the nature of evil and justice is as universal as the human condition, and is far more about a state of mind than a place.If you have not seen it, some facts will prepare you for what is a unique experience. Dogville is set on a minimalist stage with chalk lines for roads and rooms, no doors, a few props to separate inside from outside in this closed, struggling claustrophobic Depression-era community that is suspicious of all strangers. Originally written in Danish by von Trier, the translation to English picks up a lyrical formalism which is precise and slightly stilted that allows more time to reflect upon the dialogue. The amorphous production setting intensifies the impact of acting, and the camera-work moves around quickly from close-ups to panoptic 'eye-of-God' viewpoints to flat long-view pans, all dynamically lit to create the illusion that this is a real town.While the plot line is uncomplicated, the story is multi-layered and its interpretation challenging. The hamlet provides shelter for beautiful fugitive Grace who is so grateful she offers to work in return. The town progressively learns she is wanted by both 'the mob' and police so they increase her work hours to "compensate" for harbouring her. They demand more and more compensation with each revelation, increasing her work to hard labour from sunrise to sunset. Soon she is shackled by a leg-iron contraption, endures physical and sexual abuse in public. What appeared to be a benign hamlet becomes a hub of pure evil while the innocent and once-forgiving Grace learns about moral relativity and human failure.This extraordinary film pivots equally on the genius of von Trier and tour de force acting by Nicole Kidman. While a long film, it continuously builds tension towards an unpredictable and chaotic climax, with the various elements woven into a single narrative fabric by the expressive gravitas and ironic humour of narrator John Hurt. But there is little to laugh at in this nihilistic film about the ever-present potential for evil in all humans. It begs the question why we do not see more experimental films like this? The question answers itself: they are too risky. This film is not for everyone, but it is mesmerising, intellectually challenging, and so worth the effort.

William O. Tyler Dogville depicts the happenings of a humble little American town, of the same name, when a troubled newcomer stumbles into town and begins to stir its residents out of their comfort zone. It is the first movie in director Lars Von Trier's USA: Land of Opportunities series that follows a woman named Grace, portrayed here by Nicole Kidman, as she moves through America experiencing its history and culture. Here, she has somewhat of a backwards Cinderella story as Von Trier strips the idea of a small American town down to its bare essentials.The entire film takes place in a black box on a sound stage where the buildings and locations of the town are outlined in chalk on the floor, like a life size map with minimal props around to sell the idea that this is where these citizens live. It's strange for a fully fledged film, but it doesn't take long to get used to, as the story and characters are enticing enough to fill in the gaps for a suspension of belief. Before long, you won't even notice that walls don't hide anything from anyone and the mine at the edge of town isn't just a series of wooden arches.With a background that is mostly black, the cinematography is pretty limited to a few interesting lighting effects and pulling focus to the actors at hand. It seems that it would be very fun and freeing for an actor to be able to work with an ensemble cast on a project like this. The ensemble is so filled with great actors that there are too many to name them all, but the chemistry among them is smooth, fitting them together like pieces of a complete puzzle. They all get their moments to shine within the stories that intertwine these households together.Dogville is somehow a convincing combination of several mediums, film, the stage and prose, that could have gone horribly wrong. All three of these mediums have different ways of telling the same story that need to be taken into account when adapting from one to the other, but here, they all work separately and simultaneously together without becoming a jumbled mess. This is like a filmed production of a stage show playing out the actions read from a novel, with John Hurts as the voice of God narrating the actions, thoughts, backgrounds and feelings of all of the characters, which sounds a bit much but actually ends up being simple and lovely.Though it does still tread that balance of realism and fantasy, this is very different for a film from Lars Von Trier. It is much less involved and simple, in a way, but that lends itself to how Von Trier may be perceiving America, a place the director hasn't really experienced first hand, and it's people who have long been critically harsh and at odds with him. Even still, Dogville manages to be yet another bitter and thought provoking look at life and the struggles we experience.