Melancholia is a film that straddles the line between fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller. The film looks at the relationship between two sisters as calamity looks to envelop the Earth. Melancholia builds off of the overall filming style and ambiance originally presented viewers during Antichrist. Whether the two will be able to stop this tragedy while fixing the problems that has split them is the crucial point of this Lars von Trier film. The cast of Melancholia is utterly stacked, linking together Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgard, and Kiefer Sutherland.
The film is able to convey a tremendously interesting plot while ratcheting up the visual experience considerably. For each line of dialogue, a stunning shot adds to the narrative. Magnolia’s Blu-Ray version of Melancholia does the film justice – the video quality does not make the original print suffer, while the DTS-HD 5.1 audio makes it easy to pick up every line of dialogue and atmospheric noise.
Magnolia has made this Blu-Ray release into the definitive collection of materials about the film. The featurettes begin with the two theatrical trailers, but gradually move up in interest with “The Universe”, a brief look into the celestial science behind the film. Two other featurettes – The Visual Style and Special Effects – combine to present viewers with a sense of how much work went into creating the environment in which the film takes place. I believe that the “About Melancholia” mini-feature does the most in providing additional context into the film. This is because the cast and crew (including Dunst, Gainsbourg, and von Trier link up with noted psychologist Irene Oestrich to expound upon some of the themes that are weaved through the film. This is a sleeper hit, and I believe that it will be raised to cult status just as soon as individuals give it a chance.
Rating: 9.2/10
Melancholia (Blu-Ray) / 2012 Magnolia Home Entertainment / 135 Minutes / http://www.magpictures.com