Title: The House That Jack Built
Rating: R
Director: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman
Runtime: 2 hrs 32 mins

What It Is: Matt Dillon plays Jack, an architect with OCD who practices faces in the mirror. He continues to divulge his life story to a mysterious voice (Ganz) by describing five separate “incidents” in which define him as a serial killer, ‘Mr. Sophistication’ in this psychological horror.

What We Think: Actually seeing this film definitely puts things in perspective when looking back at what happened at Cannes. For those of you uninformed, The premiere screening caused over a hundred audience members to leave, then received a ten-minute standing ovation by the remaining. This is pretty much exactly what we can expect from every other Lars Von Trier or Lars-Von-Trier-esque filmmaker nowadays. The majority has to be polarized with either raving or allergic reactions; passionate or hateful. Part of the reason why Trier’s films are entertaining in their own right is in their shock value—not necessarily shock value that always hits hard personally, but no matter what it is content you know will get a rise out of the general public. That at this point is certainly one of Trier’s favorite cards to play. I admit, it has turned out to be one of my favorite cards as well—simply watching how emotionally (or absurdly) people react to the work. Trier has always been a sort of guilty pleasure of mine—he is unabashed and honest in his dark, cynical, nihilist subject matter. I indulge in it nearly as much as he does. He’s a character—one that stands as the outlet for the desire to subjugate ourselves to watching the violent, horrid, and depressing. There’s always so much to talk about, good and bad, about this director and each of his films.

That being said, this was just okay. Obviously the work of an indulgent director with free reigns—don’t shoot me—but this movie is surprisingly restrained, especially when compared to his previous works. To put it that way, it feels a step or so down from Antichrist and Nymphomaniac. By the amount of media advertising this serial killer package as so artfully disturbing and explicit—potentially on the level of having remorse upon watching—the film was particularly focused on long tangents comparing art and love to killing and obsession over the drawn-out scenes of Jack about to or attempting to kill people and getting away with it. Giving credit where it’s due: there are a few moments of real impact: the very little actual gore featured serves its purpose as chilling and grotesque, and it had some comedic elements that worked. Still, for such a long running time, it felt as if I watched an hour’s worth of movie. Predictability edged in as I constantly kept an eye on duration, wondering how much film there was left to shuffle through, and was left mulling through quite a few scenes that would eventually lose the intensity that was built up. The very last ten minutes or so, the film truly is redeemed with some really good, intense cinematography and that familiar Lars-Von-Slowmotion in a crescendo of dark fantasy… and, strangely, very sudden character development.

Our Grade: C-, The lowest score I have ever rated any of the Trier film’s I have seen. There’s something that could be profited from watching, as the film is accurate in the representation of Jack’s sociopathy, his struggle to imitate relatability, his struggle with OCD, and the all-around realism surrounding the character. Jack’s personal explanation of his urge to kill is brilliantly painted by an animation and narration, that of which I mildly enjoyed. There’s a great potential here for this to be a great dark comedy as it does have its moments that evoke this, but it otherwise feels rather flat. While I don’t regret watching the film, I certainly am not going to be at all hung over it. There’s not too much of a revelation here that Lars delivers that he hasn’t before in a more successful and interesting movie. Go watch Dancer in the Dark and/or the Depression Trilogy and you’ll have your fill of what this lacks.