By Joshua knopp/tr news editor
There’s a reason overtures aren’t commonplace anymore.
The first eight minutes of Melancholia attempt to bring one back, but it doesn’t come across as any sort of prelude. Rather, it’s just a bunch of hyperslow motion images that don’t wind up in the movie.
The rest of the film takes place in two parts. In the first, Justine (Kirsten Dunst), while apparently suffering from a severe case of bipolar disorder, marries Michael (Alexander Skarsgård), whom she is clearly not in love with. Her sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and brother-in-law, John (Kiefer Sutherland), host a stuffy reception at which no one is happy. In the second part, Justine moves in with Claire, John and their son, Leo (Cameron Spurr) as they prepare for a rogue planet, Melancholia, to destroy the earth.
This movie is really weird. Its stated purpose is to examine human emotions when an apocalypse is impending, but the characters are 100 percent sure the apocalypse is impending for only about 15 minutes. In a 130-minute film, that can’t be the point.
Melancholia has small stuff going for it. The sequences at the wedding reception are filled with subtle humor, and physics geeks will appreciate attention to detail. The power goes out as the planets’ electromagnetic fields overlap. Oxygen dilutes when Melancholia gets close enough to attract some atmosphere. Some scenes imply a warping of gravity as the planets’ masses join.
Even if manners, jokes and physics appeal to a viewer, the lack of a larger story will leave most disappointed.
