Typically I can find the words to describe how I feel regarding a film as the credits are still rolling on the screen. My mind builds up various thoughts throughout and I cannot wait to unleash them as soon as possible, but I had to sleep on Melancholia before typing up this review. In fact, I'm still not quite sure if I am ready.

A graceful and fascinating look at a subject like depression, I found moments within the film that were utterly spellbinding, and in those moments I was sure I was in love with this work by Von Trier. However, every so often I was forced to question whether the nature of the storytelling and the pacing of…

"The film needs to be slower and duller at the start so that the viewers who walked into the wrong theatre have time to leave before the main action starts."
-Andrei Tarkovsky

An enigmatic feature with wannabe Tarkovskian cinematography, planetary imagery, a classical score and a high-budget-looking Dogme style? Trier must be out of his mind!

Not quite.

Melancholia's two very first shots are references to cinematic influences:

- The first pays respect to L'année dernière à Marienbad (1961).
- The second shot displays the famous painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder entitled Jagers in de Sneeuw (The Hunters in the Snow), previously featured in two Tarkovsky masterpieces.

The film feels, above all, as an attempt to fix the evident…

Sure it's a little ponderous, a little too long, and it severely tests the patience of most casual moviegoers, but what a film this is. What a cast, such brilliant performances, a great use of Wagner, such fantastic use of minimalist CGI, what an affecting atmosphere, such powerful themes and just aesthetically exquisite. The prologue at the beginning of the film left me completely in awe, breathless. That was poetry on the big screen. Strength beyond emotions. Chilling and and mesmerizing, shocking yet beautiful. An all-timer for sure.

Kirsten Dunst easily gives the best performance of her career. Subtle, poignant and nuanced, Kirsten dives into her character and becomes this depressed emotionally destroyed woman. She's absolutely magnetic. The rest of…