Last week I spent some time scratching my head over the On Demand practice of releasing movies for viewing on or near the date that they would be opening in theatres. Wouldn't this lessen the demand for big screen releases? Or would it whet the appetite of film lovers around the world, igniting a firestorm and creating a buzz for a smaller picture that might not have received such attention? Whatever the case, I suspended my disbelief and hit the On Demand button to watch Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, a disaster movie that packs as much wallop emotionally as it does physically. It's the story of Justine, a young bride in the beginning stages of a crippling depression, a burden so heavy that she can barely put one foot in front of the other to drag herself from place to place. Her lucky groom Michael, played with simple warmth by Alexander Skarsgard (meow) is as befuddled as he is misguided. Thinking that he and Justine can muddle through this episode with some encouraging words and a wedding at a grandiose castle (owned by Justine's sister Claire and her husband John), his increasing desperation to keep a hold of his sinking wife during the nuptials is hard to watch.
On her way through the castle doors, Justine turns and spots an unusual star in the sky and asks her amateur astronomer brother-in-law John (played by the always fun to watch Kiefer Sutherland) what it is. He misidentifies it as a star in a well known constellation before becoming engrossed in the more pressing issues of the evening which include watching the night's festivities implode along with Justine's just hours old marriage.
