The Five Obstructions is a Lars von Trier film. So right off the bat you know you are getting into something that you have probably never seen before. Such was the case for me and this film. I guess you would call it a documentary. In this picture von Trier invites a director he admires Jorgen Leth, to remake one of his films called The Perfect Man. The catch is he has to make the film 5 times and each time he has to adhere to rules that von Trier will set for him.
The movie that is to be remade is a minimalist short film out of Denmark. It is in black and white and the only dialogue heard is by voice over. In the film a man goes about his day in front of a white space. It is every artsy fartsy film school experiment rolled into one.
In The Five Obstructions von Trier provides Leth with a series of obstructions in an attempt to make him uncomfortable and to view that uneasy in the remakes of his film. The first series of rules are: 12 frames maximum (aprox. 3 shots per second. The Perfect Human was done in long takes) and that he had to film it an a place Leth had never been. The Second Obstruction was to make the film in the most dangerous or disturbing area you can think of and Leth had to to play The Perfect Human. Third was "no rules". Leth was to do a true remake, only 36 years later. It was to be for the time now like it was then. Fourth was to make it into a cartoon. Both director hated cartoons. Then the 5th and final obstruction was that he had to let go of control. Von Trier shot and directed the final obstruction. Leth only recorded the voice over without knowing what he was talking about. Leth also had to accept the director creidt for the film he didn't make.
Von Trier used the documentary footage he had been collecting in the making of The Five Obstructions and edited it down and put the voice over work on top of the images. The film is kind of a desconstruction of documentary film making as well as a little about the nature of man. The hardest thing for Leth to do was to let go of a project that he was so passioniate about. Then the true revel is that the fifth obstruction actually showed what von Trier was like more so than Leth. It was von Trier that was the puppet master. Von trier was the one causing (or attempting to cause) the pain and anguish. Leth was mearly a lithmus test.
All and all this was an interesting study. This is not basic watching. Cinephiles only. I give The Five Obstructions a 3/5 stars. Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.
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