Sean Baker presents: Lars von Trier's THE IDIOTS (1998)
Long unavailable in its uncut form, we present the L.A. theatrical premiere of the highly anticipated, uncensored restoration of Lars von Trier’s controversial black comedy.
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Aug 08, 2023, 7:30 PM
BRAIN DEAD STUDIOS, 611 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA
The Idiots (Idioterne) a.k.a. Dogme #2
directed by Lars von Trier
1998, 117m, Denmark, DCP
doors 7:00
film 7:30
25th anniversary 4K restoration!
Introduced by filmmaker Sean Baker (Red Rocket)
Long unavailable in its uncut form, we are thrilled to present the L.A. theatrical premiere of the highly anticipated, uncensored restoration of Lars von Trier’s controversial black comedy. Between the late '90s and early 2000s, von Trier was the reigning enfant terrible of European art cinema, whose bold psychodramas and mordantly funny experiments from this era remain as innovative as they are confrontational. The Idiots is perhaps the most provocative of them all: a woman (Bodil Jørgensen) dining alone at a crowded restaurant is disrupted by a flash mob of adults pretending to be developmentally-disabled, as an attempt to challenge bourgeois society by behaving like "idiots" in public. Joining their commune, she begins a life of creative anarchy, which von Trier observes with extraordinary and discomfiting intimacy. Shot entirely with consumer-grade handheld DV cameras, with natural light and direct sound, it remains the only film Von Trier directed that closely adheres to the Dogme 95 manifesto, which infamously established particular rules for a more hyper-realistic filmmaking aesthetic and influenced a new wave of millenial independent filmmakers. Please note: this film contains unsimulated sexual content, and other scenes that may offend some viewers.
In Danish with English subtitles. Special thanks to C. Mason Wells (MUBI) and Alec Moeller.
Official Selection: Cannes Film Festival (Competition), New York Film Festival, 1998
“One of the best films of the '90s.” -Sean Baker & Joachim Trier
“What starts as a Danish Jackass eventually returns to the sad realities of the performers’ lives back home—a move [Karl Ove] Knausgaard described as the ‘veil between art and reality being taken away.’ He compared von Trier’s film to Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. The 1869 novel portrays a simple man of no irony or calculation, and positions him against society, which reveals itself to be a performance, a collapsing circus. Von Trier inverts the premise, starting with the performance and ending with the brute simplicity and tragedies of the characters’ lives.” -R. Emmet Sweeney, Film Comment
Please note that this screening is taking place at Brain Dead Studios and all seats are reserved.