Reviews
Expect lots of SJW outrage! IMDb storyline:
USA in the 1970s. We follow the highly intelligent Jack over a span of 12 years and are introduced to the murders that define Jack's development as a serial killer. We experience the story from Jack's point of view, while he postulates each murder is an artwork in itself. As the inevitable police intervention is drawing nearer, he is taking greater and greater risks in his attempt to create the ultimate artwork. Along the way we experience Jack's descriptions of his personal condition, problems and thoughts through a recurring conversation with the unknown Verge - a grotesque mixture of sophistry mixed with an almost childlike self-pity and psychopathic explanations. The House That Jack Built is a dark and sinister story, yet presented through a philosophical and occasional humorous tale. Written by Zentropa Entertainments
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/house-that-jack-built-cannes-2018-1111908
Working here via the soft-spoken avatar of Matt Dillon's title character, von Trier orchestrates a methodical display of sadistic violence against women, even bumping off two young boys for good measure, then subjecting their devastated mother to a gruesome family picnic before ending her misery. There's nothing like the coldly detached killing of children to spark waves of walkouts.
It seems a direct FU to the current climate of reckoning over gender bias and sexual misconduct when the unrepentant Jack bemoans the misfortune of being born male and therefore guilty, asking: "Why is it always the men's fault?" He even goes as far as saying women make more cooperative victims: "Easier to work with."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/house-jack-built-review-lars-von-trier-shocks-cannes-portrait/ 2/5* "Torture Porn"
Seven years ago, Lars von Trier was drummed out of Cannes for joking in a press conference that he sympathised with Hitler. Last night he came back, persona non grata status rescinded, with a film whose hero claims to sympathise with – well, have a guess.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYF2tfdD1fA