I’ve always been a huge fan of Bjork’s tunes and videos because she’s easily one of the most original artists out there with an unmistakably distinctive voice. When I first heard that she was making the jump over into cinema, I was a bit skeptical of the whole idea. I mean, can a talented Icelandic singer be a convincing actress? Her feature film debut, Dancer in the Dark, gets the Platinum Series treatment in a DVD that’s got a plethora (read: crapload) of extras.

A Czech single mother (Bjork) must suffer through a tiring job in a factory in order to save up money to pay for her young son’s eye operation. While she toils away during the 9 to 5, she drifts off into vivid daydreams which are inspired by old Hollywood musicals. While in her fantasies, she’s able to escape the harsh realties of the real world and the difficulties which plague her life.

I distinctly remember walking out of the theater with JoBlo after first seeing this flick. We both kind of looked at each other and shrugged as I casually remarked: "Not my kind of movie". He heartily agreed. After having said those words only a few months ago, I still stand by what I said. The movie itself is an interesting experiment which ultimately succumbs to its own ingenuity. For example, the concept of shooting a movie in digital is definitely avant garde (courtesy of Lars Von Trier) but quickly got on my nerves. The film also has a documentary feel to it, yet the camera continually bounces around and shakes for most of the movie, leaving the viewer disoriented and distracted.

Furthermore, the movie itself relies heavily on carefully choreographed dance numbers where Bjork spontaneously bursts into both song and dance (I couldn’t help but think of Spike Jonze’s music video for "It’s Oh So Quiet"). But the whole thing just didn’t work all that well. Why? Without giving away too much of the plot, most of the story revolves around very dark and disturbing themes and the juxtaposition of said elements with "happy" dance numbers ultimately proved too ridiculous to believe or enjoy. While some may view this as brilliant filmmaking, I thinks it’s nothing more than glorified art house fare that relies on gimmicks to get its point across. Mind you, despite the movie’s flaws, Bjork does deliver an extremely memorable performance. While her character may take getting used to, she’s powerfully convincing and you can’t help but feel some level of sympathy for her. But sadly, the overall movie moved along at an excruciatingly slow pace and got bogged down by its dance sequences, which left me frustrated and looking for more. All in all, it was an interesting film which qualifies as middle of the road material.

Video: Seeing as how the movie was shot with digital cameras, I wasn’t expecting much but the DVD did a nice job of working with what was there. Most of the scenes come across as being rather "cold", that is the colors are dull and bleak throughout. Grain is held mostly to a minimum but while you watch the movie, it still has that handycam feel to it as detail is significantly lacking. The movie is presented in a widescreen anamorphic format. (2.35:1)

Audio: I was pretty surprised to notice that New Line decided to include both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks for the disc but given that a significant part of the movie relies on singing and music, it’s understandable. When the dance numbers kick in, the front speakers do a fine job of projecting the score with good bass and crisp sound. The rear channels, however, are handcuffed and don’t get nearly as involved. The DVD manages to squeeze in 2 commentary tracks, one from director/writer Lars Von Trier, producer Vibeke Windelov, technical supervisor Peter Hjorth and artist Per Kikeby and another from choreographer Vincent Patterson. The first one features comments from the group which are spliced together throughout the movie as they were probably taped separately. It’s a monotonous but informative listen as we learn of the time consuming efforts it took to achieve Von Trier’s "100 Cameras" approach. The second commentary was far more energetic and is genuinely worth checking out as Patterson recounts his frantic schedule and difficulty in casting dancers for the song sequences.

This is a Platinum Series DVD so by now you already know that you should expect extras out the ying yang and this one ain’t no different. First off is "100 Cameras: Capturing Lars Von Trier’s Vision" which is a 14-minute documentary detailing the huge task it was to actually film the movie. During many of the dance sequences, up to 100 cameras were used to film the actors from every possible angle and the final product is a collage of footage. We get behind the scenes glimpses of crews setting up little cameras all around the sets and playing with sequential switchers while watching monitors for feedback. This is easily one of the coolest featurettes I’ve seen in some time. Next up is a 24 minute documentary, "Choreography: Creating Vincent Patterson’s Dance Sequences, which does a detailed job of showing early practice footage of all the dancers as they prepared on practice sets for their scenes in the movie. While everything appears so fluid in the finished product, you’ll get a real feel for the long hours of preparation they put in.

Also included are 3 alternate scenes which highlight rough footage of different takes on the "Cvalda" (1) and "I’ve Seen It All" (2) dance numbers. Using different angles and shots, they’re like 3 separate music videos from the movie. "Selma’s Music" is less of a feature as it is an option, it’s basically a menu which allows you to view all the songs from the movie. You can also choose to run them consecutively, one after another. The original theatrical trailer finishes up the bonuses. In terms of menus, while they’re nicely done, they feature no sound or animation, surprising for a movie that’s filled with elaborate songs.

This release is one hell of a hard one to judge but I’ll try and sum things up as best I can. If scoffing popcorn, eating hot dogs and enjoying what’s usually playing in the top 10 at box office characterizes yourself as a person, chances are this ain’t your kind of film. If on the other hand, you know the difference between Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux wine and enjoy snooty film festivals, you’ll probably fall head over heels in love with his flick. With that having been said, it’s a solid rental (If only for the wealth of added features) and for fans of the movie, would be a no-brainer and worth buying