This week my wife and I watched "The House That Jack Build" which is now in selected US cinema theaters in a R-rated version (152 min, but not the director`s cut imdb ). Von Trier´s newest film is again a piece of art and an icon of cinema history. Like many art work it´s challenging and hard to digest. Von Trier tells the story of Jack over the course of 12 years in the 1970s and 1980s set in the U.S. state of Washington. He describes how Jack became a serial killer and how he got more and more manic & sadistic (this is a spoiler free blog).
Some scenes went too far for me, but over time the movie advanced to a fascinating cinematic experience and culminated into a grandiose finale. My wife declared the film an academic study based on Dante`s Inferno. Anyway the film is a very dark horror trip spiced with a lot philosophy & psychology. "Jack" shows many influences of course, especially of "American Psycho" but went even much further. The film may be the culmination of contemporary horror cinema, sprinkled with a a lot cinematic quotes including a famous Bob Dylan Video, Aliens III, 2001: A Space Odyssey, William Blake illustrations and much more. The cinematography (by Manuel Alberto Claro) created fantastic tableaus and a rather surprising choice of soundtracks completed the masterpiece.
Matt Dillon performed a very scary Jack. I enjoyed Uma Thurman`s cameo, even though I didn`t recognize her. I also liked two more cameos: The very special acting of Jeremy Davies & the appearances of the Swiss cinema icon Bruno Ganz.
"The House That Jack Build" is maybe the best film of 2018, but certainly not for everyone.
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