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Film Description
A provocative examination of gun culture and cinematic violence scripted by Lars von Trier. A young loner in a poor mining town finds a small antique handgun and, despite what it represents, finds himself drawn to it. He convinces other young outcasts in the town to form a secret club, 'The Dandies', based on the conflicting ideals of pacifism and guns. Although their first rule is 'never draw your weapon', they come to realise that in some situations, rules have to be broken.
If you watch Vinterberg and Von Trier’s Dear Wendy expecting a critique of the United States’ fascination with firearms then the laugh’s on you. This is not a film tha... more >
If you watch Vinterberg and Von Trier’s Dear Wendy expecting a critique of the United States’ fascination with firearms then the laugh’s on you. This is not a film that in any simple way addresses itself to the debate on guns and minors. Rather, Dear Wendy is a burlesque on our now over-determined expectations of the depiction of youth and violence—a much more messy and interesting thing altogether. When fatherless loner Dick finds that his relationship with a gun radically boosts his sense of self, he has to share his discovery with his disaffected friends in grim, isolated Estherslope. Together, beneath the mine that dominates the town, they build a temple to their new obsession, and around the icon of the revered weapon develop a language of romance. From these beginnings Vinterberg and Von Trier build a cinematic travesty in which the adolescent fantasy of group invulnerability is rewritten as camp farce. Everything about Dear Wendy is exaggerated and overblown, from the guns’ ludicrous sexual symbolism to the baroque costumes and rituals of Dick’s ‘dandies.’ The primary aesthetic effect here is one of discomfiting excess: the viewer is bombarded with absurdly fetishised weapons, overloaded characterisations, and every stereotype of teenage alienation the film can muster. If there is any critique implicit in Dear Wendy, then, it is in the way the viewer might find in it occasion to be embarrassed by their own narrative gratifications (The pleasantly pointless Zombies soundtrack, for example, cocks a snook at anyone who enjoys the jangly 1960s accompaniments of so many scenes of cinematic violence). The irony may be too darkly played for some, but if you have been bemused by the moral weight lent to so-called ‘serious’ recent cinematic explorations of violence and masculinity (David Fincher’s last springs to mind) then Dear Wendy is for you. < less
This film is growing on me. I found it a little oddball at first but the more I watch it, the more I find myself becoming comfortable with the movie.
Good cast, Jamie Bell is great as usual in this. I would rank this as my second favorite Jamie Bell movie if you are a fan of Jamie Bell. The first would be Hallam Foe.
The subject matter is a little uncomfortable but watching these kids and the world they choose to live in is quite mesmerizing. < less
