Above all else, Europa is an unforgettable movie. The look, feel, and sound of it all are lifted directly from Hollywood melodrama and film noir of the '40s and '50s, and (aside from a few moments of graphic violence and language) could feasibly trick future generations into thinking that it was made half a century before it actually was. The techniques used, though old Hollywood staples, have long since fallen out of favor and thus the reminder of how well they can be used is gleefully awe-inspiring. The only mark that this did come from Mr. anti-Hollywood himself is the theme of idealism as a detriment instead of a virtue. That dichotomy of old and new, and the overwhelming feast…

A visually-stunning bore of a film. With a straightforward plot, abysmal acting, and a shortage of interesting characters, EUROPA is one of Lars von Trier's weaker projects.

The film opens with the hypnotic lull of passing train-tracks set to the rich, mellifluous voice of Max von Sydow as he serenades you into an otherworldly state. After this scene, I had high hopes for the rest of the film. Sadly, instead of a dreamlike journey through postwar Germany as I had expected, I received an overly pretentious exercise in rear-projection and whoa look, the whole movie is black-and-white except a couple of times there's color, wacky huh. Granted, some of the rear-projection scenes were quite impressive, but mostly I found myself…

The final installment of von Trier's Europa trilogy is a visually resplendent, ambitiously allegoric, and altogether enthralling odyssey into post-war Germany. Combining the saturated palettes of The Element of Crime with the amateur monochrome of Epidemic, Europa is, on a visual level, very much the sum of its preceding parts. It's interesting to see colour and black and white enmeshed so experimentally, and while at times the visual flourishes can prove distracting, it's hard not to appreciate their uniqueness. Looking (and indeed sounding) alternatively like an Old Hollywood melodrama and a European art house piece, Europa functions on the same metatextual level as Epidemic with much more success, demonstrating the multitudinous ways a single story can find expression. Maybe a…

I've been an admirer of Lars Von Trier since he tore up the rule book and thumbed his nose at mainstream sensibilities in the late 1990s to mid 2000s with brave, infuriating and brilliantly unique films like "Breaking the Waves", "The Idiots", "Dancer in the Dark" and "Dogville", not to mention his extraordinary, surreal horror mini-series "The Kingdom" for Danish TV. His third feature film is the last part of the thematically linked "Europe" trilogy, and was the last Von Trier feature I had yet to see; it is without doubt his first masterpiece and belongs in the top ranks of his output.

It follows Leonard a young American pacifist drawn to Germany in the immediate aftermath of WWII hoping…

I've been having a frustratingly difficult time putting into words just how brilliant Lars von Trier's Europa truly is. It is an incredibly complex film that has many layers to it and can be quite easy to become lost because of it. However, it is also a hypnotic film in the most literal sense, beginning with narration from Max von Sydow as he uses hypnosis to transport viewers into Europa, overlapping the surreal and almost static image of the trailing train tracks as he speaks. Both clever and chilling, this narration is used frequently throughout the film, often used as a way to pass time.

The narration is not the only trick this film has up its sleeve however, as…

A visually-stunning bore of a film. With a straightforward plot, abysmal acting, and a shortage of interesting characters, EUROPA is one of Lars von Trier's weaker projects.

The film opens with the hypnotic lull of passing train-tracks set to the rich, mellifluous voice of Max von Sydow as he serenades you into an otherworldly state. After this scene, I had high hopes for the rest of the film. Sadly, instead of a dreamlike journey through postwar Germany as I had expected, I received an overly pretentious exercise in rear-projection and whoa look, the whole movie is black-and-white except a couple of times there's color, wacky huh. Granted, some of the rear-projection scenes were quite impressive, but mostly I found myself…

Above all else, Europa is an unforgettable movie. The look, feel, and sound of it all are lifted directly from Hollywood melodrama and film noir of the '40s and '50s, and (aside from a few moments of graphic violence and language) could feasibly trick future generations into thinking that it was made half a century before it actually was. The techniques used, though old Hollywood staples, have long since fallen out of favor and thus the reminder of how well they can be used is gleefully awe-inspiring. The only mark that this did come from Mr. anti-Hollywood himself is the theme of idealism as a detriment instead of a virtue. That dichotomy of old and new, and the overwhelming feast…

I've been an admirer of Lars Von Trier since he tore up the rule book and thumbed his nose at mainstream sensibilities in the late 1990s to mid 2000s with brave, infuriating and brilliantly unique films like "Breaking the Waves", "The Idiots", "Dancer in the Dark" and "Dogville", not to mention his extraordinary, surreal horror mini-series "The Kingdom" for Danish TV. His third feature film is the last part of the thematically linked "Europe" trilogy, and was the last Von Trier feature I had yet to see; it is without doubt his first masterpiece and belongs in the top ranks of his output.

It follows Leonard a young American pacifist drawn to Germany in the immediate aftermath of WWII hoping…

An unusual post-WWII drama in which a young American pacifist comes to work in Germany as a train conductor in order to do his bit to help rebuild the war-torn country, and inevitably ends up having to help out people on both sides for whom the fighting hasn't quite finished. The whole thing is framed by Max von Sydow's narrator, some kind of hypnotherapist who talks our hero through his story, though it's unclear what the narrator's purpose is. Likewise, von Trier's occasional use of colour (the bulk of the film is in black & white) and frequent use of back-projection - and sometimes both at once - makes for some nice and artful compositions, but they come across as nothing…