Spellbound

Seeing Lars von Trier's Anti-Christ twice in Madrid this fall wasn't enough, and I was particularly wanting to revisit Breaking the Waves, as I was sure there are artistic parallels. So when I was offered a special back-to-back viewing of the two, I naturally jumped at it, requesting first BtW, followed by Anti-Christ. Other than re-emphasizing what I already knew, that von Trier should be forbidden to create epilogues, this experience heightened my fascination with how he views women, the most interesting aspect of his work.
The production values of Anti-Christ were miles ahead of 1996's BtW, not surprisingly, and even the third time around I was transfixed. I find, in both films, potent juxtapositions of women's true power with their own misconceptions about that power. He manages to simultaneously convey how threatening this is to men, in a way that I simply cannot manage to find misogynistic, despite what virtually all the critics say. This is a man who is quite simply spellbound by women. And frankly, there is no better kind of man. If only they were more common...

In that vein, I'm further refining my screening mechanism to better weed out Men's Club types (see The Good, The Bad and The Ugly). Last year after it became clear that blogging was not just a passing fancy for me, I remember discussing my dilemma with my dear friend D. She didn't think it advisable for me to share my blog with every potential conquest. But my instinct has been to use it as the perfect screening tool. And so, I'm vowing from now on to begin any dialogue this way: "Hi, I'm katchita, and if my blog rings your bell, we can talk." Hey, it seems to have worked with my newest, who apparently has a certain reputation as one of Berlin's top video pirates. Is there any feeling more delicious than sensing potential new worlds opening up? I live to learn; without learning I cannot live.