Review: Film: Dancer in the Dark

Post #30,700 by inthane-chan 3/4/02 3:32:50 PM Reply	Review: Film: Dancer in the Dark Bjork stars as a Czechloslovakian immigrant to Washington state during the mid 1960's. She's slowly losing her sight, although she has told almost nobody. In addition, her own child will suffer the same fate, unless she can afford an expensive operation to fix his eyes. She does extra shifts at the factory at which she works, sticks needles into backboards, and pinches every penny towards her son's operation. Which, of course, he knows nothing about, since she hasn't told anybody what she's doing, including her own son. Instead, she says that she's sending the money to her father in Czechloslovakia. How does she escape from all this? She imagines that she is in a musical, which causes a transformation of the film from the drab representation of small-town Washington to a musical number, in a factory, in a house, on a train. Of course, everything goes wrong. This film is very hard to categorize. Nasty stuff happens, this is not a kid film. This is also not a film for people who don't like the way that Bjork sings - I happen to like her VERY unusual voice - but if you do, you might want to check it out. "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Post #30,727 by CRConrad 3/4/02 5:09:23 PM Reply	You know what she has in common with Saku Koivu? Sakari Koivu, that is, the hockey player? Come on, take a guess. Christian R. Conrad Of course, who am I to point fingers? I'm in the "Information Technology" business, prima facia evidence that there's bats in the bell tower. -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=27764\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #30,773 by inthane-chan 3/4/02 9:14:46 PM Reply	Same singing voice? "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Post #30,782 by CRConrad 3/5/02 1:57:03 AM Reply	Naah: Both their names - her first (or only?), and his... ...last - mean "Birch". Fond of trees, those Nordic types. Christian R. Conrad Of course, who am I to point fingers? I'm in the "Information Technology" business, prima facia evidence that there's bats in the bell tower. -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=27764\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #30,848 by a6l6e6x 3/5/02 11:59:47 AM Reply	How about that? Son of a birch! :) Alex "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." -- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Post #30,956 by static 3/5/02 9:34:04 PM Reply	Another review. [link\|http://www.sbs.com.au/movieshow/reviews.php3?id=129\|From The Movie Show]. The two reviewers differed sharply, which is not all that unusual! Note that I haven't seen this film myself. However, I do have a copy of Bjork's first album. I quite liked "Human Behaviour". I think her full name is Bjork Gudrensdottir (sp?) or something like that but AFAIK it's Icelandic to be known only by your first name. FWIW, her daughter would have a "surname" of Bjorksdottir. Wade. "All around me are nothing but fakes Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
Post #31,106 by CRConrad 3/6/02 5:50:58 PM Reply	Gu\ufffdmundsd\ufffdttir, not Gudruns (two u, no e). For Dad,.. ...not Mom, as Gudrunsdottir would be. FWIW, her own kids are probably also more likely to be little Halvdanssons or Thorsteinsdottirs, or whatever the prospective father's name will be -- the patronymic surname (why the quotation marks -- where'd you think Scott's 'Anderson' came from?) is still much more prevalent on Iceland than the matronymic, AFAIK. Christian R. Conrad Of course, who am I to point fingers? I'm in the "Information Technology" business, prima facia evidence that there's bats in the bell tower. -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=27764\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #31,288 by static 3/7/02 10:03:28 PM Reply	Thanks. But I was guessing at Bjork's father's name. All I know for sure is it starts with a 'G'. I think at the time I read about it, Bjork was considered a single mum and I think she was causing waves by saying her kids' surnames would be Bjorksson or Bjorksdottir. Other than that, I had forgotten the patronymy vs matronymy aspect. And yes, I did already know about the "Andersson" => "Anderson" progression. I am a casual student of the history of language and words and this includes names. I first discovered this construct many years ago when a friend's father worked for Ericsson and I noticed the double S. :-) Wade, who would be surnamed Brucesson with such a naming convention. "All around me are nothing but fakes Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
Post #31,325 by CRConrad 3/8/02 7:22:27 AM Reply	That's funny; I wouldn't have thought it would "raise waves" Wade Brucesson writes: But I was guessing at Bjork's father's name. All I know for sure is it starts with a 'G'. Ah. Well, now you know -- 'Gudrun' is a woman's name. :-) I think at the time I read about it, Bjork was considered a single mum and I think she was causing waves by saying her kids' surnames would be Bjorksson or Bjorksdottir. That's weird, IMO: The matronymyc isn't all that unusual, as I understand it (just less usual than the patronymic); I gather it's fairly widely used in precisely those circumstances. And it's not as if the Icelanders were a particularly religious, or otherwise opposed to single-motherhood, people. The practice is fairly old (as in, centuries), AFAIK. Oh well, what with her being an "international star", perhaps things change. Maybe a stink was raised abroad, or perhaps it even was Icelanders, fearing that she'd "present a bad image" of the country, who complained -- somewhat ridiculously, if so, for being "holier than the holy" for no real reason at all as far as they themselves are concerned. Christian R. Conrad Of course, who am I to point fingers? I'm in the "Information Technology" business, prima facia evidence that there's bats in the bell tower. -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=27764\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #31,451 by static 3/9/02 2:02:33 AM Reply	Heh. I really don't know. CRC writes: Well, now you know -- 'Gudrun' is a woman's name. :-) Yah. Thanks. (-: That's weird, IMO: The matronymyc isn't all that unusual, as I understand it (just less usual than the patronymic); I gather it's fairly widely used in precisely those circumstances. And it's not as if the Icelanders were a particularly religious, or otherwise opposed to single-motherhood, people. The practice is fairly old (as in, centuries), AFAIK. All I remember was that she effectively said her daughter would have a matronymic name, and that commentators familiar with aspect of Icelandic life thought it unusual. I don't know why; I was only theorising (e.g. maybe she was still married at the time). Much of my knowledge about Icelandic names comes from - of all places - a Hardy Boys' novel set in Iceland. They had to look someone up in the phone book at one point and found it most confusing until a native explained it all to them (and the readers). It was more recent, though, that I found out about the -dottir suffix. shrug Wade. "All around me are nothing but fakes Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"

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