Lars von Trier • 2003 • Denmark-Switzerland-Belgium-France • Lars von Trier challenges his mentor.
Documents the re-making of Jørgen Leth's classic short film The Perfect Human through a maddening maze of obstacles imposed by his former student Lars von Trier.
In 1967, prominent Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth directed The Perfect Human, a beguiling short film in which a man and woman pace around a white room as if they were subjects in a zoo. Nearly four decades later contemporary cinema's enfant terrible Lars von Trier challenges his former mentor to re-make this classic short, but with a catch— each version is constrained by a new obstacle.
The Five Obstructions premiered at Venice, Mar del Plata, CPH:PIX, Göteborg, Sheffield, Tallinn Black Nights and Motovun, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.
Up Next in Michael Almereyda
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Russian Ark
Aleksandr Sokurov • 2002 • Russia • A floating, single-take journey through Russian history.
Filmed in one 96-minute, continuous single-take shot—the first work of cinema to ever do so—Russian Ark foregrounds the ...
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Synonyms
Nadav Lapid • France, Israel, Germany • 2019 • The challenges of putting down roots in a new place
Yoav is a disaffected young Israeli who has fled Tel Aviv to start a new life. Now in Paris, Yoav sees becoming Fre...
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Long Day's Journey Into Night
Bi Gan • China, France • 2018 • A noirish stunner and new landmark in world cinema.
Luo Hongwu left Kaili twenty years ago. Now he has returned—his father is dead. Back in his hometown, memories r...
