Dancer In The Dark

The moment Bjork opens her little mouth to belt out her first big number, it's clear she and director Lars von Trier have managed to defibrillate the moribund movie musical; bursting into song again seems like a viable means of expression. That's the film's greatest achievement, aside from Bjork's astonishing performance; otherwise, it's a reworking of von Trier's BREAKING THE WAVES, complete with the guilt-ridden, child-like heroine doomed to suffer an unreasonably harsh fate. With her thick glasses, stringy hair and face that's all dimples when she smiles, Selma Jezkova (Bjork) is a Czech immigrant with a passion for musicals. A single mother, Selma and her son G...