If you enjoy pulling at your clothes and clawing at your face when watching a film, then you're gonna love Lars von Trier's "Antichrist".
But is that type of strong, visceral reaction ultimately necessary, and does it automatically qualify a film as good?
No. "Antichrist" is a good film in spite of the confronting moments of graphic carnality and violence.
Von Trier is a filmmaker with a unique voice, verging on anarchic, and with "Antichrist" he has given us a lot of food for thought about the nature of evil. Thematically, it's a highly original and compelling piece.
It's also a polished film, too polished -- the excessively graded imagery calls attention to itself, as does the overuse of extreme slow motion. Like the graphic sex and violence, it's unnecessary and masturbatory.
Roman Polanski didn't need to show a penis ejaculating blood, and he certainly didn't need extreme slow motion to hit the same buttons with his similarly-themed "Rosemary's Baby".
If only von Trier could have shown the same restraint.
My score: 7/10
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