The House That Jack Built (2018)

 NOTE: This is a review of the current 'R' rated cut of the film. The unrated cut features up to a half-hour of extra footage and it will be given its own review in the future. Thank you, and enjoy.


Lars Von Trier is a filmmaker that I am familiar with, but I am not exactly an expert when it comes to his work. The most common words one is likely to hear when reading or hearing about the director is 'controversial' and with good reason. His films are abstract, violent, disturbing, sexual, and a whole lot more than just that. So, with this being my first dip into the pool of his films I had a lot to think about once those two and a half hours were over. 'The House That Jack Built' tells the story of a serial killer played by Matt Dillon named Jack as we are told five random events from his twelve year career while getting many, many tirades about philosophy, religion, misogyny, dictators, and life & death. Honestly, it's hard to review a film like this because this lists of themes and discussions hardly scratch the surface of what I am sure Von Trier is attempting to bring to his viewers. Like his films he is a hard man to understand fully and that's what I think is the appeal to many of his fans.

 

 Let's not sugar coat this: This film revels in its controversial material, with it's entire marketing campaign and any news regarding it always discussing the audience walkout at Cannes, the film's graphic violence, and the various comments made by Von Trier over the years. It's what gets people to see his films, but it also cheapens them and feels as if he just wants to show mutilation and murder just to shock people. Von Trier seems to want to have his cake and eat it too, wanting to tell a meaningful story with artistic visuals and a lasting quality but he relies on Grindhouse style gimmicks which just lowers the overall value of the film I think. I also feel that the film is simply too long, even at it's current edited version for what the story is trying to tell the audience. The film channels strong themes of religion, particularly Dante's vision of the multi-layered Hell and you could call it a twisted form of 'It's A Wonderful Life'. We are shown these various acts or 'Incidents' as the film likes to call them in seemingly no real order other than the beginning and the very end but each individual murder Jack commits all deal with different philosophies of the character as he carries on a conversation with a mysterious old man named Verge.

Each scene also takes inspiration from real killers and it makes the already disturbing material that much more so if one knows the background of each one. The film employs the usual artsy style many films of this kind tend to do, and frankly even as a film lover it's become a cliche. Just because your film has random stock footage or like the scene above parodying Bob Dylan doesn't mean it art or has meaning. Really even directors I love like David Lynch can fall into this trap and when you lose the majority of the audience, it's hard to justify some of these choices. Where I think the film is at its strongest is in the final two acts, one taking place in an empty and quiet apartment complex, and the film's finale which I won't spoil here but the best way I can describe it is interesting and thought provoking if one chooses to do so. The apartment murder of Jack's current girlfriend is the most shocking and genuinely felt scary and tense. Jack screaming that no one is going to help, him openly admitting to a cop that he's a killer, and still he kills this woman, does awful things to her...ahem...chest and still gets away with it. That is true life horror right there, and it's happened more than once in reality and the final image of the policeman too busy with young minorities to witness Jack place a body part on his windshield is the most obvious visual queue but one of the film's strongest images.

While the film is stunning in its visuals and clearly a well made film, It wouldn't be strong enough without Matt Dillon's performance. He's very scary and plays the tropes one associates with serial killers perfectly. He practices expressions in his mirror everyday using photographs to fake empathy in one scene. If that's not scary to you, then I can't imagine what is and Dillon is clearly the standout and the catalyst to the whole picture. The rest of the cast does fine, though they are shown in such limited capacity I can't really judge them on their performances. This is Dillon's show all the way. 'The House That Jack Built' is a hard movie to review because it's clearly not designed for a mainstream audience. It's an abstract art piece that moves, and like any art you'll either see a masterpiece or an overpriced piece of junk. The film's deliberate attempts to anger and disgust its audience cheapens what overall was a thoughtful and well performed film but I still recommend it for those who can stomach the more graphic content. It's a very very fine house you've built, Jack.