Dogville
2003
****
Director: Lars Von Trier
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgard, Lauren Bacall
A beautiful woman finds refuge from gangsters in a small town of Dogville in the Rockies. First the townfolk seem welcoming but they gradually reveal their darker side. Lars von Trier's drama is long and not particularly cinematic, but the film is so powerfully written and brilliantly acted that you simply forget that it takes place entirely on one artificial studio set. The first part of a planned trilogy (followed by Manderlay in 2005).
