Screening Notes: Melancholia

• Opening sequences are in super slow motion.
• Film starts in media res and story development takes a long time to come about.
• The movie doesn't give any background story, which is pretty annoying.
• Melancholia is utterly depressing - Kirsten Dunst lies to everyone that she is happy and then makes extremely rash and crazy behavior (like sleeping with a stranger). Regardless of the acting or how well extreme depression is depicted, the film is so depressing to watch that I could hardly stand watching the whole thing.
• Visually, the film was interesting- it had a good use of CGI, especially related to the planet Melancholia.
• The concept of another planet, basically named Depression, colliding with Earth and destroying it is pretty interesting. It is a great analogy for depression colliding with humans and destroying them.
• The acting is strong, Sutherland is great until he kills himself and even the parents are strong.