DANCER IN THE DARK (2000)

[The Burgomaster]

This is an offbeat musical-fantasy-murder-drama that I thought was fairly interesting.  Bjork stars as Selma, a single mother who is going blind.  Her main goal in life is to save money to pay for an operation for her son who suffers from the same condition, which will eventually take his eyesight.  At times, Selma slips into a fantasy world where mundane situations (such as her job at a factory) turn into bizarre song-and-dance routines.  A series of events cause Selma's life, and plans to save her son's vision, to take an unpleasant detour.

Many people will hate this movie.  After the first 20 minutes, I was put off by the documentary-style camera work and choppy film editing.  However, the movie started to grow on me and I found the second half to be riveting.  Bjork is probably a better actress than she is a singer and was able to bring life to this difficult and emotion-filled role.  

Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Udo Kier, and Stelan Skarsgard are good in their supporting roles.  And I was surprised to see Joel Grey in one of the song-and-dance segments!


Here is the trailer (with some potential SPOILERS):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53vr9EiOH7g



 

[crackers]

I really liked this film.