shorts

Done with Dogme, on to Automavision

Danish director Lars von Trier (Dogville, Breaking the Waves, Europa) likes playing games.

Cinema’s enfant terrible helped conceive Dogme 95, the filmmaking manifesto that stipulates directors must adhere to “Vows of Chastity,” such as using only natural light and hand-held cameras, and not using props or canned music.

Von Trier admits he created Dogme to challenge himself because he was “too good” at certain aspects of filmmaking, and because he likes to play games with rules.

But he grew bored of the Dogme diversion (he only made one Dogme film, The Idiots), and has come up with a new way to amuse himself — Automavision. For his latest film, The Boss of it All (opening in limited release this month), von Trier used a computer to operate the camera. The story follows an IT company owner who hires an out-of-work actor to play his company’s fictional boss. Von Trier initially framed the shots, then he left it to a computer to randomly tilt, pan or zoom the camera — and alter sound levels — while filming.

So did von Trier really direct the film? Some critics call his latest filmmaking conceit a stunt to keep the restless auteur entertained. The real question is, will the audience find it amusing? —IR