After the rigours of The Idiots, von Trier returns to Breaking the Waves territory with another emotionally upfront, somewhat hollow tale of self-sacrificing, saintly womanhood. In rural America, Czech single mother Björk keeps quiet about her rapidly deteriorating sight so that she can retain her factory job and pay for an op to prevent her son from going blind. After she accidentally kills her neighbour (Morse), who has stolen her savings, her continuing refusal to keep the truth from her child makes for 'tragedy' (or so the director would define it). What makes the film a little unusual is that every so often it jolts into dance-musical sequences, illustrating the optimistic fantasies into which our brave heroine escapes. The trouble is, all the cameras in the world (and a 100 were reportedly used for some scenes), coupled with MTV-style editing, can't conceal the imaginative poverty of von Trier's response to the (admittedly ho-hum) choreography, nor the disingenuous contrivances of the plot. Whether one finds Björk's angelic attempts to console fellow Death Row inmates with a song deeply moving or offensive, trivial and tasteless is a matter of personal sensibility (I gagged!), but, Deneuve's under-used presence as Bjork's workmate notwithstanding, there's no denying that this can't hold a candle to the best work by Demy, let alone von Trier's beloved Dreyer.

Excerpt from TimneOut Film Guide located HERE

ADDITION: Koch Media Blu-ray - September 14': Dancer in the Dark can only look so good because of the manner/style it was shot. Von Trier used a variety of Sony DV cams with custom anamorphic lenses (DSR-1P, DSR-PD100P, DSR-PD150, DXC-D30WSP) hand-held in a cinema vérité representation. The video looks brighter and truer, IMO. It is on a dual-layered BD disc with a max'ed out bitrate. It probably can't look much better. For many the audio might be a more important upgrade. Koch use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 track at 1807 kbps in original English. The music sounds good but I wouldn't say overly-dynamic. The 'Postmodern Musical' aspects of the film directly reflect the same manner that Von Trier portrays the life of his protagonist character. It leans to realism rather than 'gloss'. So the audio was also never meant to be pristine. Don't get me wrong - the Surround sounds notably superior to the SD's Dolby with significant depth and some deft separation - but I wouldn't say it is 'crisp'. But probably a direction function of the production - not the lossless transfer. There are optional German subtitles (and German DUB) on the region 'B' Blu-ray.

NOTE: Michael tells us in email "I just read your review about Dancer in the Dark Blu-ray, very nice, thank you :-) I thought this might be interesting for you: This new HD-transfer was supervised by Lars von Trier and it took quite a long time till he was happy with everything." (Thanks Michael!)

Supplements include the same commentary as on the Sandrew Metronome DVD with Lars von Trier and Sound Designer Per Streit (In Danish with optional English subtitles - sample below). There are also interview with Lars Von Trier (In English with German subtitles - running 10-minutes) and a 7.5 minute one with Bjork (also in English with German subtitles). There is a brief 'Behind the Scenes' video piece, an English trailer and a stills gallery.

Overall, I think this Blu-ray is worth the price. It was great to see the film again (been at least a decade) - in, adeptly transferred, 1080P. I'd be interested to compare to another transfer - but I suspect this will be the best. The film remains hypnotic and... totally draining - WOW. Absolutely recommended!

***

DVDs: New Line ADDITION (2001): Colors are quite different in these three versions, especially between the Russian Amalgama version and the other two. The New Line has a lot of Edge Enhancement which can make it appear sharper in some scenes, but I find it very noticeable and don't like it personally. Aside from that it is sharper anyway. I don't know which color is most accurate but I like the skin tones of the Amalgama, which is also brighter. Unfortunately it also appears saturated at times. Its a tough choice as I don't like to give up anything for sharpness, but I suspect and hope that a better version of this film comes along soon. If forced I will take the New Line although Bjork's sweater in the first capture and her face in the last make me lean toward the Amalgama (which I know is not right)...

Gary W. Tooze

The New Line image in music scenes is more vibrant, but the faces are a little too red. I'm not sure if the image is cropped on New Line version or I didn't take the exact matches. Probably the latter, since the cropping mostly seen during the music scenes, with a lot of movement and it was hard to find exact matches.

- Gregory Meshman.