Comprising 1994’s The Kingdom, 1997’s The Kingdom II, and 2022’s much belated The Kingdom: Exodus, Lars von Trier’s television miniseries trilogy plays like the unholy love child of St. Elsewhere and Twin Peaks, the latter an acknowledged influence on the director. The trilogy works brilliantly as a blackly comic piss take on running a hospital, with all its attendant frustrations and absurdities, as well as a blast of surreal weirdness that seeks to expose the dark underbelly of its titular locale.
But the parallels between The Kingdom series and its forebears are even more specific. The final episode of Exodus dramatically hinges on a snow globe containing a miniature of the hospital, just as St. Elsewhere famously ended on a similar image. As with Twin Peaks: The Return, over two decades passed between the second and third season of The Kingdom, allowing for some intriguing narrative resets and retakes.
But the parallels between The Kingdom series and its forebears are even more specific. The final episode of Exodus dramatically hinges on a snow globe containing a miniature of the hospital, just as St. Elsewhere famously ended on a similar image. As with Twin Peaks: The Return, over two decades passed between the second and third season of The Kingdom, allowing for some intriguing narrative resets and retakes.
- 5/7/2024
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
The cast also includes Josephine Park and David Dencik.
TrustNordisk has boarded sales for Gabriel Bier Gislason’s English and Danish-language Attachment (working title), his debut feature film which will shoot this spring in both Copenhagen and London.
The Killing’s Sofie Gråbøl has signed to star with Josephine Park, Ellie Kendrick, and David Dencik.
The up-and-coming writer/director is the son of director Susanne Bier and editor Tómas Gislason. The film mixes romance, horror and comedy in a love story that is also inspired by Jewish folklore. Maja, a Danish has-been actress, falls in love with Leah, a young,...
TrustNordisk has boarded sales for Gabriel Bier Gislason’s English and Danish-language Attachment (working title), his debut feature film which will shoot this spring in both Copenhagen and London.
The Killing’s Sofie Gråbøl has signed to star with Josephine Park, Ellie Kendrick, and David Dencik.
The up-and-coming writer/director is the son of director Susanne Bier and editor Tómas Gislason. The film mixes romance, horror and comedy in a love story that is also inspired by Jewish folklore. Maja, a Danish has-been actress, falls in love with Leah, a young,...
- 4/23/2021
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Chicago – Lars von Trier opens his brilliant “Europa” by literally trying to hypnotize his audience. A barely lit train track moves slowly across the screen as Max von Sydow calmly incants a hypnotizing speech and countdown. “On the count of ten, you will be in Europa.” Is he speaking to the audience or to the man who just appeared on the screen when he says, “You are in Germany. The year is 1945.”?
“Europa” is von Trier’s attempt to deconstruct the war movie, the thriller, the standard Hitchcock rip-off, and even his own nightmares in one fever dream of a film. “Europa” (released under the name “Zentropa” in the States, so as not to avoid confusion with “Europa Europa”) announced the arrival of a massive international talent, one that would go on to make great films like “Breaking the Waves”, “Dancer in the Dark”, and “Dogville”.
Von Trier may have...
“Europa” is von Trier’s attempt to deconstruct the war movie, the thriller, the standard Hitchcock rip-off, and even his own nightmares in one fever dream of a film. “Europa” (released under the name “Zentropa” in the States, so as not to avoid confusion with “Europa Europa”) announced the arrival of a massive international talent, one that would go on to make great films like “Breaking the Waves”, “Dancer in the Dark”, and “Dogville”.
Von Trier may have...
- 12/10/2008
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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