Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

anuraagt What a movie! Spare, elegant, fantastic acting from Nicole Kidman, and a horrifying, queasy plot. It's amazing to me how Lars von Trier's stripped away so many of the canons of what we expect from a film, and still made something incredibly fresh and vivid. It just works! I'm amazed that it does, but it does. To me, that's mastery.I also loved the casting, think everybody in the cast was just right for the role. Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Chloë Sevigny, everybody got a chance to just act, and to me the subtlety and power of getting to focus on the actors and their body language and faces was brilliant. Loved it!Finally the writing and plot. To me it felt like every word was just right. John Hurt's narration as well. I think for me really liking the cast, plus a super original take on sets and lighting, plus a beautifully written scrip, just made it all come together in a very compelling way. Must watch and recommend!

jinsilver Nothing quite like being beaten over the head with a trite morality play for three hours, with such naked and ham-handed emotional manipulation that I couldn't find a pinch of humanity inside.This was basically torture porn for overly emotionally invested people. I give it a few points for going out on a limb with the style, but again, it just feels like something a very high college student would come up with the day before the script was due. And it was a one-trick pony, the sense of style was never used effectively for anything else. It contributed absolutely nothing to the movie.The acting was fine, just terribly dull. Never felt the slightest connection to anyone, or felt that any situation was any more than a ridiculous farce; everything happened not because it naturally follows from the characters and events, but because it had to happen to move the plot forward. Everyone but Grace is basically a hive mind who feel everything in perfect lockstep with each other, like a good fable. The brutality followed the generic revenge flick arc trod by hundreds of other movies, even the narrator just felt utterly pointless and jarring, instead of quaint and unusual.Obviously, there are quite a few people who love it. Give it five minutes, and you'll already know if you'll enjoy the whole movie or not.

William O. Tyler Dogville depicts the happenings of a humble little American town, of the same name, when a troubled newcomer stumbles into town and begins to stir its residents out of their comfort zone. It is the first movie in director Lars Von Trier's USA: Land of Opportunities series that follows a woman named Grace, portrayed here by Nicole Kidman, as she moves through America experiencing its history and culture. Here, she has somewhat of a backwards Cinderella story as Von Trier strips the idea of a small American town down to its bare essentials.The entire film takes place in a black box on a sound stage where the buildings and locations of the town are outlined in chalk on the floor, like a life size map with minimal props around to sell the idea that this is where these citizens live. It's strange for a fully fledged film, but it doesn't take long to get used to, as the story and characters are enticing enough to fill in the gaps for a suspension of belief. Before long, you won't even notice that walls don't hide anything from anyone and the mine at the edge of town isn't just a series of wooden arches.With a background that is mostly black, the cinematography is pretty limited to a few interesting lighting effects and pulling focus to the actors at hand. It seems that it would be very fun and freeing for an actor to be able to work with an ensemble cast on a project like this. The ensemble is so filled with great actors that there are too many to name them all, but the chemistry among them is smooth, fitting them together like pieces of a complete puzzle. They all get their moments to shine within the stories that intertwine these households together.Dogville is somehow a convincing combination of several mediums, film, the stage and prose, that could have gone horribly wrong. All three of these mediums have different ways of telling the same story that need to be taken into account when adapting from one to the other, but here, they all work separately and simultaneously together without becoming a jumbled mess. This is like a filmed production of a stage show playing out the actions read from a novel, with John Hurts as the voice of God narrating the actions, thoughts, backgrounds and feelings of all of the characters, which sounds a bit much but actually ends up being simple and lovely.Though it does still tread that balance of realism and fantasy, this is very different for a film from Lars Von Trier. It is much less involved and simple, in a way, but that lends itself to how Von Trier may be perceiving America, a place the director hasn't really experienced first hand, and it's people who have long been critically harsh and at odds with him. Even still, Dogville manages to be yet another bitter and thought provoking look at life and the struggles we experience.

Milos Latinovic If you are looking for a film which can really make you question your way of life and view of society then avant-Gard drama "Dogvill" would be the right choice for you.The plot of the move is set in a remote small town somewhere in USA during the prohibition era. A young girl named Grace, played by Nicole Kidman, comes to this imaginary town called Dogvil where meats locals. Gradually she becomes familiar with their way of life, personalities, fears and above all with their hypocrisy.The theater like setting (no walls etc.) giving the impression of everybody's awareness of evil deeds which are happening. This way director achieves the effect of guilt transmission and making spectators think about their own social settings, their involvement and responsibility.Dogvill definitely deserves significant place in history of film as a monument of brave and uncompromising criticism of society. Although I would not recommend this move to people who do not feel the moral issue is important in their lives, to children under the age of 16 and to those who suffer from serious depression.