If you feel like screaming... you definitely should.
Failed architect, engineer and vicious murderer Jack narrates the details of some of his most elaborately orchestrated crimes, each of them a towering piece of art that defines his life's work as a serial killer for twelve years.
- Harm to children
- Animal harm
- Body horror
- Graphic violence
- Bleak ending
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Character
Bleak, prestige, contemplative and demanding.
- warmbleak
- unpretentiousprestige
- contemplativerelentless
- effortlessdemanding
- cooloverwhelming
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“Is this Lars von Trier's best work?”
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“Is The House That Jack Built harder work than it needs to be?”
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“Is The House That Jack Built emotionally manipulative?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- Stephen Campbellon TMDB · Jul 20197/10
_**Self-indulgent? Absolutely. Disturbing? Partly. Hilarious? Definitely**_ > _Jack is a part of me. But I'm not a psychopath. I'm pretty sure. I've been diagnosed since I was six. So I think I'm safe to be with._ - Lars von Trier; "Lars von Trier: 'I know how to kill'" (David Jenkins); _Little White Lies_ (December 13, 2018) Ostensibly a psychological horror/serial killer film, in reality the latest from professional provocateur Lars von Trier is more a dark comedy about the nature of art, capped off with a quite literal descent into Hell. As much an interrogation of his own dark psychology as an "up yours" to his detractors and the oft-levelled accusations of misogyny and nihilism, von Trier all but _dares_ you to be offended, whether by the violence done to a duckling, the cold-blooded murder of children, the verbal degradation of a woman, the critique of the #MeToo movement, the celebration of Albert Speer, or the mockery of American gun culture. Partially self-reflexive in nature, the film suggests a parallel between murder and artistic creation, with von Trier offering more of an _apologia_ than an apology for his oeuvre. When he's really on his game - _Breaking the Waves_ (1
Read the whole review on TMDB - LachieDon TMDB · Dec 20186/10
Another film by Lars von Trier done very much in the flavor of his previous picture, Nymphomaniac. It is, in my opinion, much less uneven and messy, but still too undisciplined to feel fully realized and satisfying. It ranges from brilliant to dubious constantly, while Nymphomaniac, despite also containing brilliant segments, sinks to cringe-worthy more than once. Similarly to Nymphomaniac, where our main character is exploring a central part of her personality, in the case of that film her sexuality, by confessing her history to another character, all intertwined with commentary from philosophy and religion, here it's a murderer confessing the central part of his personality, his killer nature, to another character, all again mixed with dialogues on philosophy, art, etc. So in the style and approach the films are quite similar. Maybe even more that I would prefer, because Nymphomaniac didn't rub well off me, as the premise took precedence over proper story development. The story in The House That Jack Built again is told in episodic manner, here even more so with the narrative being split into separate "incidents", and it often feels too artificial, staged, and improbable. I'm not
Read the whole review on TMDB
Cast
- Matt DillonJack
- Bruno GanzVerge
- Uma ThurmanLady 1
- Siobhan Fallon HoganLady 2
- Sofie GråbølLady 3
- Riley KeoughSimple
- Jeremy DaviesAl
- Jack McKenzieSonny
- Mathias HjelmGlenn
- Ed SpeleersEd - Police Officer 2
Crew
- Lars von TrierDirector
- Lars von TrierWriter
- Manuel Alberto ClaroDirector of Photography
- Víctor ReyesOriginal Music Composer
- Jacob Secher SchulsingerEditor
- Louise VesthProducer
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Pairings
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Often watched with
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