Grainy flicker. A smoking man comes on the screen. He performs a piece of legerdemain with his cigarette. Soft, hypnotic voice-over in Danish. "It's just a movie. It's all constructed. But it hurts anyway." Lars von Trier's cinematic creed? The voice of God? The opening scene, I think I have seen it before. I know I *meant* to see the movie at a recent festival, but I also know that I didn't. Maybe on TV? The next scene, it's set in a hotel I think I know. I do! It's the Copenhagen Airport Hilton. I have stayed there, traveling for work. As I walk out of the theater, Cole Porter playing over the closing credits, I see a blonde girl in pointed boots who is the spitting image of Maria Bonnevie, Christoffer Boe's lovely leading lady. She tries to talk her boyfriend into taking a cab, what with the rain and all. It's that kind of movie.
Review of Reconstruction
