Dear Wendy

 

Dear Wendy 2005

• Thomas Vinterberg
• Seen by this director: Far from the Madding Crowd, Jakten
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Jamie Bell, Alison Pill, Kris Owen, Bill Pullman, Michael Angarano, Danso Gordon, Novella Nelson, Mark Webber
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Jamie Bell – Rocket Man, Skin, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Fantaswtic Four, Filth, Snowpiercer, Jane Eyre, The Eagle, Defiance, Jumper, Hallam Foe, King Kong, Painkiller, Undertow, Billy Elliot
• Alison Pill – Hail Caesar, Snow Piercer, Pillars of the Earth, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Milk, Dan in Real Life
• Kris Owen - The Mist, Hidalgo
• Bill Pullman – Dark Waters, Cymbeline, Igby Goes Down, Independence Day, While You Were Sleeping, Sleepless in Seattle, A League of Their Own
• Michael Angartano - Red State, Seabiscuit, Almost Famous
• Danso Gordon - American History X
• Novella Nelson – Antwone Fisher, Mannie & Lo
• Why? Jamie Bell
• Seen: Once before. Now 31 July 2024  

 

It all starts when Dicky (Bell) buys a toy gun as a present for an idiot but when he’s told the kid would love it he keeps it and gives the kid a book instead.

He forgets about it, finds it several years later, and learns from his somewhat weird co-worker at the supermarket, Stevie, (Webber), that it’s not a toy, it’s real.

They’re both pacifists but Stevie is a gun freak and Dicky gets pulled into it. Horrified but fascinated Dickie falls in love with his gun, and names it Wendy.

He and Stevie gain confidence carrying their guns and decide to share this with three other losers in town. Pacifists who carry guns but will never use them.

An odd but enthralling film. No surprise that it was written by Lars von Trier and directed by Vinterberg, which seems to irritate many Americans.’ ’How dare these Europeans make an anti-gun anti-America film?’ ’What do they know?’ mutter mutter. Oh, touchy.

It’s Von Trier, it’s Vinterberg, it’s Bell, it’s tragic, it’s brilliant.

 

5* of 5