Manderlay 2005

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: It's a movie with more surprising things to say than most about racism past and present. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Dig that freaky symbolism! Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Manderlay is both more coherent and more obvious than Dogville, which lacked the clean narrative drive of the new film. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Von Trier may not be completely right, but he certainly isn't all wrong. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Manderlay loses in power what it lacks in novelty, even though it's more relevant than anything the year is likely to bring. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The trouble is the angrier it gets, the more infuriatingly banal it becomes. Read more

Josh Kun, Los Angeles Times: Manderlay is pompously didactic from the first of its 133 long minutes -- a harsh and endlessly schematic morality tale in which diatribe is mistaken for story. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Von Trier, there's no doubt about it, has become a taxidermist of America's sins, but the way he puts those sins on display only to thumb his nose at them marks him as a new style of prankster-hypocrite. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: If von Trier can't be bothered to get out more, he should at least consider picking up a book or just using some real imagination. Read more

Charles Ealy, Dallas Morning News: Some will see Manderlay as thought-provoking and representative of the way the rest of the world sees us. If that's the case, then we're really in trouble. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: It's true, of course, that Trier still hasn't set foot on U.S. soil, but it may be that he sees us, in all our virtue and victimhood, that much more clearly for it. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: As clumsy and ham-fisted as the movie's narrative process may be, its conclusion, however mordant or unforgiving, can't quite be shaken off so easily. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Deadly slow and repetitious. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Massive walkouts in Toronto. No wonder. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Set in Alabama in 1933, the movie lays out an excoriating examination of the legacy of slavery in the United States. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: It may be that the director has overreached in Manderlay by trying to deal with racial conflicts in an excessively abstract manner. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It can become tiresome to watch von Trier bash the United States while realizing that he doesn't have a full understanding of what he's attacking. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The crucial difference between Manderlay and the almost unbearable Dogville is not that his politics have changed, but that his sense of mercy for the audience has been awakened. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It is without exaggeration one of the most blindingly boring films I've seen in years. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: If Dogville offered up a ham-fisted critique of 'America' from a plane-phobic Dane who's never visited the place, Manderlay ups the arrogance ante by bonking us on the head with supposedly searing 'truths' ... Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Toronto Star: Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Watching this film is an edifying but frustrating experience; dull in parts, amusing and illuminating in others. You'd still struggle to call it entertainment. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Those eager to lap up what the Dogmatic one has to say will readily do so. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: The filmmaker uses Dogville's formal devices to lesser effect and his boredom is contagious. Read more

Philip Kennicott, Washington Post: Even the basic look of the film -- it was filmed on a stage with every shot set against a bleak, dark backdrop -- underscores the filmmaker's position as master manipulator, in a laboratory, looking down at his mice running through his maze. Read more