It's a great triumph of minimalist style: there is almost no "set" to speak of whatsoever -- the entire film is filmed with people walking amidst chalk lines written on the ground that form the outlines of streets and houses and everything else in the town. This almost forces you to concentrate soley on the acting (which is amazing: Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Jeremy Davies, Philip Baker Hall, James Caan, Patricia Clarkson, Ben Gazzara, Chloë Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård... and, a person I've seen in a few things but never really took notice with until now: Paul Bettany... his performance is amazing here, as is Kidman's), and eventually the chalk lines fade away from consciousness, becoming just what they are, a simple expression of sense of place and surroundings, in aide to tell a simple story.
Oh, and the ending's horrifying. I truely did not know where the story was going to go at the end. I was actually quite concerned that the ending was going to be pretty lame... There's the point of the film where it is 10 minutes left, and then all of a sudden Kidman's character starts this long conversation with someone, this seemingly meaningless conversation that doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything else... but this is just Lars von Trier fucking with the audience, because at that exact point, the punch line is given to this long starting point, and the only reaction is holy shit...
This is a great film, and while I still agree with the Cannes jury choosing Elephant over this for the Palme d'Or and best director prizes, it definately is amazing.
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