Started to fall asleep at 20 minutes and it's 3 hours long.... Is it trying to be different or pretentious? Who cares it's boring as hell. Go watch a stage play if you want a superior alternative. If you want a movie that melds cinema with stage, and one that looks unique, watch The Cook, The Theif, His Wife and Her Lover. Long leisurely story? Read a book, it's better. I don't understand why anyone would watch this other than to fool themselves that they've seen something arty and therefore of high quality or meaning. Watching paint dry (coloured with subject matter that cries for awards), the movie. The characters were suitably empty of life. Dialogue didn't carry any weight.

The way it was shot was awful. The half shaky camera to try and make us engaged only succeeded in enducing nausea or as some nystagmus simulator. I've seen this style done wag better. Close ups so close, I could almost see skin cells. Editing so disjointed i thought i was watching with a split personality syndrome from different areas. The narrator didn't help me stay awake. He sounded like something from a Mr Kipling advert reading a fairy tale.

I admire the effort to tell a story differently but this was bad. Essentially it tries to make the story speak for itself but it's too long and boring and then presented awfully. I can only think that Kidman took the role to add to her serious roles list, and be self authenticated as a serious actress.

A woman on the run from a group of gangsters seeks refuge in the small town of Dogville. The residents initially appear supportive and forgiving, but things start to degenerate as their awareness of holding the upper hand emerges.

As the first installment of an incomplete trilogy on the American dream, Dogville employs the confined boundaries of a microcosm to exemplify the contradictions and arrogance of a country that presents itself as supportive to the stranger and forgiving to its citizens. The protagonist gradually becomes objectified by the other residents as they lose control of moral authority, exploiting her gratitude in a sort of emotional blackmail.

The events unfold within a theater setting, featuring a minimalist stage design with simple chalk lines standing for walls and delineating the outline of the buildings. This gimmick not only pays homage to epic theater but also underscores the lack of protection within communities, where every action and intention end up exposed and under everyone’s judgment.

Despite its three-hour dialogue-driven narrative, the film is well-balanced between entertainment and introspection, although I must admit I have a thing for stories that bring out the worst in people. Despite the deliberate attempt to alienate the audience, I found myself consistently drawn to the dread and filth portrayed on screen. Still, I would have appreciated a more in-depth exploration of all fifteen adult inhabitants of the village. Ultimately, the focus predominantly narrows to the same four or five characters.

I reckon this is my favourite Lars Von Trier film. Set amidst some eerily basic staging purporting to be an hick American town, we see the arrival of "Grace" (Nicole Kidman). Now she is attired in furs and lace and is clearly on the run from something, or someone. Shortly after, some hoods turn up in the town and leave a card in case she ever shows up... The townsfolk are ostensibly nice enough - if rather an eclectic mix, and local "Tom" (Paul Bettany) takes a bit of a shine to her. Can she stay? Initially they can find nothing for her to do, but gradually they seem to embrace her and she becomes an integral - almost enthralled - member of their society. Some rather odd manipulation from the young "Jason" (Miles Purinton) causes things to start to take a darker turn, though, and she and her as yet unfulfilled beau decide that it might be time for her to go. Will she be permitted? This story is darkly brutal at times, the harshness of her increasingly inhumane treatment is exemplified by the presence of a cast that features an almost menacing Lauren Bacall, as well as effective contributions from Blair Brown, Ben Gazzara and Philip Baker Hall who all demonstrate clearly just how fake the facade in this town is. Kidman is superb, probably the best I have seen her on screen. She has a potent chemistry with the on-form Bettany and the stage lighting, paucity of settings and the overall simplicity of the production works really well before an ending that I feared might not deliver as I wanted - but boy, it does! This is well worth a watch. It illustrates the best and worst in human nature - but with the emphasis very much more on the latter!

Rapists and murders may be the victims according to you, but I, I call them dogs. And if they're lapping up their own vomit, the only way to stop them is with a lash.

A sparse soundstage is stylishly utilized to create a minimalist small-town setting in which a mysterious woman named Grace (Nicole Kidman) hides from the criminals who pursue her. The town locals at first decide to shield Grace, and in return she openly works labour tasks for them to work off her gratitude. It's not long, however, before the residents of Dogville begin to show their true teeth...

One thing is an absolute, Lars Von Trier knows how to push the buttons of critics and movie lovers alike. Dogville proved to be a case in point, a film that saw some high profile film critics renounce the director as anti American - even anti human, while others lauded the "Great Dane" as a visionary and a director of bravura panache. The point is, and it's a fact, there is no guarantee that Dogville will hit the spot of every first time viewer venturing in for the challenge.

As it happens, I'm very much in the plus camp here, to me it's not only brave in style of production, but also it's narratively as caustic as anything so called "anti human" directors like Kubrick, Godard etc ever produced. The bareness of the sound stage setting, where we can see the workings of all residents of Dogville going about their respective business, very much shows there is no hiding place, all the bile strewn movements/ignorance is laid bare for all to see, we are all complicit.

There's an outstanding cast assembled, fronted by Kidman (never more beautiful and never better as an actress), with support coming from Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Lauren Bacall, Ben Gazzara, Patricia Clarkson, James Caan, Philip Baker Hall and others who give their all for their director. It's often charged that Trier is a misogynist, personally I don't see it that way, more so as Dogville reaches its crushing climax. This easily could have been shaved of 20 minutes from the run time, but it has to be said that Von Trier doesn't waste a single frame here.

Roll your dice and take your chance, you will either love it or hate it, or admire or admonish, what isn't in doubt is that you will never ever forget watching Dogville. 9/10