Usually, when Empire get their sticky hands on some interesting character banners, they're for a big franchise picture featuring wizards or mutants. Well, not this time (unless they've seriously misread the film), because this lot are for Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, which may or may not be about depression, broken families struggling to connect, and/or the end of the world.
It's all held together by a brilliant performance by Kirsten Dunst as Justine, a woman who may (or may not) be depressed (or she may be entirely rational). Also featured here are: her flighty father (John Hurt), faithful fiance (Alexander Skarsgard), hot-tempered (but not so bad) brother-in-law John (Keifer Sutherland) and sister Claire (Charlotte Rampling), who's sort of second-lead in the film. Director von Trier also gets a tribute, which makes an odd sort of sense since he's also almost a character in the film.
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
Jacky Petters from Film Takeout writes:
"Lars von Trier was influenced to make this film after a depressive episode he experienced. So why would anybody want to watch a daunting film that revolves closely around depression and doomsday? Because sometimes it’s nice to escape the sappy bullshit we sometimes kid ourselves with. And with the help of cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro, von Trier successfully exposed a common issue and fear among people in the most beautiful and poetic way possible."
Chillopedia: From time to time, disaster movies have shown their monetary potential by rocking the box office. They are also one of the most popular themes for directors to make movies on. That is probably because of the vastness of nature, and how little control man has over it. If there is anything we can be certain about Mother Nature, it is that it is extremely uncertain.
Nice and artsy.