Lars Von Trier Is Crucifying Anders Thomas Jensen, World Misses Joke

When Screendaily yesterday announced that Anders Thomas Jensen had helped Lars von Trier complete the script for his next film, Antichrist, the joke seemed pretty obvious to me but nobody else seems to have commented upon it.

Von trier really is no fan of Jensen's, and he has quite openly slated him in the past, criticising his films for being superficial and shallow. For his part, Andersen satirised von Triers's self-opinion in the script for Clash of Egos. I'm with Lars, largely.

And it seems to me that, in this case at least, wicked Lars will get the last laugh.

Antichrist is conceived as a deliberately 'mainstream' film about the end of the world and the son of satan coming to earth to bring it about. The film is apparently rather concerned with spectacle, overwrought action and a kind of flashy extravagance that von Trier abandoned some years ago.

It's also, clearly, a massive postmodern gag and I'm prepared to bet Jensen's contribution is a joke on him. Haven't people seen enough of von Trier's formal trickiness by now to work out how he thinks? If Antichrist had a manifesto, it wouldn't be the Dogme one, that's for sure. Something along the lines of "Always appear to be as pointedly superficial and shallow as possible" is more likely, I think.

The press conferences when this one is ready to roll out are bound to be a joy.

Lookey Here, Lars Fans

Variety have today announced that Lars Von Trier’s latest film will contain the latest innovation in interactive entertainment: The Lookey. Far from being a tricksy old-school gimmick like The Tingler or Smell-o-Vision, The Lookey is described by Trier as "a mind game that will enhance the audience’s involvement in the cinematic experience". And how does it work? Well, throughout the film a number of ‘visual disturbances’ will manifest themselves in such a way as to appear out of context. The audience are invited to play along by spotting these visual anomalies - the first lucky looker will win themselves a cash prize and the chance to appear as an extra in Lars’ upcoming horror film Anti-Christ.

So far, so Peter Greenaway - but what on earth does he mean by 'visual disturbance'? Will it be something akin to the legendary flash-frames in British sit-com The Young Ones? Or are we to expect the kind of gratuitous errors lately typical of fellow Scandinavian Lukas Moodysson? I guess we will have to wait until The Boss Of It All hits cinemas to get a lookey for ourselves.