The sleepwalker Karen seeks answers to the unresolved questions of the series in order to save the hospital from doom. Sound asleep one night, Karen wanders into the darkness and inexplicably ends up in front of the hospital. The gate to the Kingdom is opening again.
Broke: von Trier's Twin Peaks: The Return
Woke: Tarkovsky's Grey's Anatomy
It might seem too easy to call this Von Trier's Twin Peaks: The Return but having seen the first couple of episodes that genuinely is what this is; it even takes place exactly 25 years later which the characters mention frequently! Withholding a rating until I've had a chance to see more but this is great, and I can't believe how effortlessly Lars has managed to slip back into this playfully ugly, farcical mode of bigoted office politics, Kafka-esque parking lots, Swedes Anonymous groups, an underground network of IT people, satan owls, and of course gruesome surgical mishaps. I was practically hooting as he flirts with making you think he's shot this new season in his modern slick scope…
Probably when you woke up this morning and went to Letterboxd and saw this entry, you probably never in your life thought you'd see this paragraph and read something as blasphemous as this: this is better than Twin Peaks, especially the original series.
I'm not sure how to put that into words, but that's my reality, and I can't deny it. No amount of intimidation or pressure from my peers can change how I feel. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I've always despised soap operas but am a far greater lover of medical dramas. Perhaps it's because the strange, dark humour typical of Von Trier's work is closer to my liking. However this miniseries held my attention for…
david lynch: the crimes upon which our existence rests are so horrific that all we can do is rationalize supernatural incarnations of evil to hold responsible for them, because it is easier than looking directly at ourselves
lars von trier: same. also demons keep making the women around me pursue litigation for sexual harassment charges
First two episodes. Haven’t seen the original series so obviously this was like opening a novel at the midpoint and starting from there, but I just would have felt bad about missing what will probably be Lars von Trier’s last submission to a film festival. Have felt ambivalent about the guy over the years (who hasn’t?), but ultimately I have to put myself in the Pro camp because he’s funny and irably willing to alienate his audience and seems authentically very troubled.
“That is one nutty hospital!” - Bill Murray, Tootsie
Lars von Trier returns to the original haunted hospital of his ’90s TV sensation with this dazzling limited event series. Set in the run-up to Christmas, The Kingdom Exodus serves an incomparable blend of horror and humor on a compulsively entertaining path towards the promise of Armageddon.
Watch Episode 1 now here. New episodes drop weekly on Sunday. A MUBI Release.
Seeing this in a theater at Venice with an introduction from Von Trier was a deeply moving experience. More here: www.vulture.com/article/lars-von-triers-the-kingdom-exodus-review.html
Seen at PalaBiennale, Venice Film Festival.
TIFF
Any time Lars von Trier releases something, it's an event. It doesn't matter what the film is about. A few takeaways:
-"Kierkegaard" means graveyard
-Loved the rivalry between the Swedish and Danish
-Willem Dafoe screaming "Beware the wrath of Satan" is everything.
There were about 5 walkouts at our screening. They played the first two episodes.
Vegan alert:
-Owl devours rodent
-Reference to omelet
(was under embargo and not posted on 9/9/22 the date I saw it)
After concluding the saga, I have to say that The Kingdom: Exodus is unfortunately one of my least favorites by Lars von Trier. This was mostly due to the subplots, which I did not particularly enjoy or think had much coherence to them. For instance, the animosity between the Danish and Swedish was simply overwhelming the supernatural storyline. While I'm not fully clued in to the history of that animosity (whether there is any truth to that didn't really matter to me), there wasn't much logic to get behind.
One could argue that The Kingdom I & II did the same thing and that there was a lack of balance between the comedic and supernatural elements at play. However, I did…
Helmer Jr.: Danskjävlar!
After 25 years Lars von Trier finally got to finish his series about Riget.
I would probably have preferred if he had made the third season back then, but multiple deaths of cast made him abandon the project, though a script was written. For this he made a new script and I really hope that he will someday publish his original plan.
I don’t think this new season lives up to the quality of the original two seasons, but it is still weird, crazy and simply hilarious. Lars von Trier captures the look and tone of it all perfectly again all these years later, but it felt like he didn’t do as much horror and ghost…
julemanden comes to pick his presents. after all, all the elves have gone on strike. the factory has shut down, its motors put on indefinite hiatus. the missus has filed for divorce, citing her husband's infidelity as the cause of their unhappy marriage. poor julemanden — here he comes in his big bothersome sleigh, here to look over all the options he has like a child looking through a toyshop window glass. he'll pick, erm... hmm... let's see...
that one.
that one over there as well.
ooh, that one's not too bad.
what about the one on the corner over there?
the one with her legs chopped off as well.
that man there... with the funny little tuft of facial…
What a wild ride!
I love Trier's work to death, even if most of his works are hit or miss. I was really excited for this since the first 2 seasons were fucking amazing and hadn't a proper ending, AND this is last Trier's work to date.
I was pretty disappointed in "The House That Jack Built" and thought that Lars can't make proper movies with his disease, but I heard a lot of good stuff about this season, and Trier still fucking rocks.
It's so absurdly funny that in the wrong hands it could be just a big mess. The plot is literally woke Swedes fighting against some Danish doctors, meanwhile an old woman chasing ghosts after being affected…
