SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our WHEN DIRECTORS DO INTERESTING THINGS Series, Friday, September 29, 2023
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the 1917 Bay St building. Our entrance is NOT on Bay Street. You access our entrance from Wilson Street by turning into the street art alleyway/corridor in the back of the building. Look for our signs which are always posted on Wilson and in the corridor to guide the audience.
7:30pm DOGVILLE (2003, dir. Lars Von Trier, MUBI, Denmark/USA, 178mns, Format TBD - We are coordinating with MUBI to secure a 35mm print but be prepared for movie to be screened as DCP)
Lars Von Trier’s career in some ways has felt like an escalating war with the medium of cinema that he loves.
Somehow to honor and advance cinema, Von Trier (in his very Von Trier way) has often forced himself to do without the very tools most moviemakers rely on to make great films.
It seemed hard to get any more extreme than Von Trier’s DOGME 95 manifesto where he and other moviemakers pledged to make films on the cheapest video formats without the use of professional lighting or non-diegetic music/sound effects, etc.
But Lars found a way.
With Dogville, he took away locations, production design, and most of the artifice that helps suspend disbelief by telling his story on what is clearly a soundstage with tape marking out different “homes” in a small American town. The Actors are in costume and there are some occasional props, special effects, chapter headings. But other than this, everything else is left up to the imagination of the audience.
What is incredible is that the conceit works brilliantly. Within 5-10mns of the movie, you accept it, settle into it, and get caught up in the storytelling. It’s as if Lars Von Trier wanted to challenge himself to the very extreme and still prove he could make an absorbing movie.
He succeeded.
Dogville tells the story of a mobster’s daughter, Grace (Nicole Kidman), who seeks refuge in the small Colorado town of “Dogville”, as she’s trying to escape her violent family and past. At first the townspeople (an incredible cast that includes Ben Gazarra, Lauren Bacall, Stellan Skarsgaard, Harriet Anderson, Paul Bettany, Philip Baker Hall, Jeremy Davies among others) seem to represent the kindness and good heartedness and understanding Grace seeks.
But slowly, Grace comes to realize and (even more horrifically experience) the same moral decay and rot she hoped to flee in the people she hoped would protect her.
It’s not quite accurate to say that Von Trier went a step further than Dogme 95 here. He actually does introduce a number of beautiful cinematic techniques (chapter breaks, a narrator, gorgeous intro shots to each chapter, selective sequences of storyboarded cinema) that he uses to great effect.
But he puts the overwhelming focus on the story and performance here, possibly to assert that these are the two most important elements of movies.
Kidman gives one of her best and most daring performances and the ensemble cast is uniformly great including James Caan who appears for a stunning third act sequence as Grace’s mobster father.
This is also the movie where Von Trier’s earlier spirituality clearly begins to transform into a kind of hard nosed atheism. For the interested viewer, one will slowly begin to realize that Von Trier is telling the story of Jesus’s second coming but in a way only Von Trier can.
A must see movie for anyone who wants to be reminded of the great rewards that come with taking great risks in moviemaking. Dogville is one of Von Trier’s absolutely best movies.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.