Acting Legend

"Lars von Trier isn't going to talk to a lot of press." Yeah, yeah; yadda-yadda. But just because he isn't talking to us doesn't mean we can't talk about him, particularly about his childhood.

I've got nothing against sports films that exult in good sportsmanship and the triumph of the underdog. But I'm more inclined towards films like The Damned United that scrape past the noble veneer of sports.

A TV writer tries his hand at a feature film. His friend reads the script, thinks it's an ungodly mess of muddled symbolism and Freud 101 anxieties. "Be honest," the writer says.