If you’ve ever watched 12 Monkeys, you know the time traveling story of La Jetée.  The world has World War III, and life has changed.  A man is used as a time travel experiment due to his unique connection to a young lady.  He moves back and forth in time, trying to avert the horrible circumstances of the present.  After finishing his experiment he has the option of going forward in time, yet he requests going back to be with his young lady.  As paths cross, the beginning of the film is the end as well.  The man is the boy.  A witness to his own death.

What makes this film extraordinary is that there is only a few seconds of actual film, the rest is constructed using still images and placed in a montage.  The stillness is cause for anxiety as we listen to the narrator discuss his situation with in the plainest manner.  The irony of using still images for a film is what sets the film apart.  While others are fixated on creating a masterpiece through special effects and action, Marker shows that still images and the right story are all you need.  This film even has time travel!  How can you have science fiction without the special effects?  It’s pretty simple if you watch La Jetée.

The reason for my review is that too many times I hear my students talking about films such as 12 Monkeys, yet fail to know that it was based on La Jetée.  This is through no fault of their own, I had to learn it at some point as well.  But it disturbs me that something as well done as La Jetée gets pushed to the side because it wasn’t big budget or filled with action.  If anything, a film like La Jetée proves that film is a medium that allows for many styles and approaches and that we should respect each as a possible outlet for creativity.  Just because a film is avant-garde or experimental does not mean it has to be out there.  Yes David Lynch may be the exception.  La Jetée will continue to be a must see film for its ability to tell a meaningful story through limited means.

What happens when an out of whack Danish director decides to make a comedy? You get a film that reminds one of the French New Wave and provides outright laughter. So you’ve never heard of Lars von Trier? Well then, The Boss of it All is certainly the place to start.

You know a film and director are a bit off when the director announces that the film has no cameramen, but a computer system that selects the camera movement.  Automavision is the method in which Lars von Trier attempts to move away from human influence on his film.  Or you could say that it is another way in which von Trier is just trying to be different.  I could go on and on about how von Trier is a little bit like David Lynch but with more humor and less outright strangeness, but thankfully the film is so good that I could care less about the von Trier factor.

So here is the stage for The Boss of it All.  An actor is hired to pretend to be the president of a software company by the actual owner of the company who has hidden that fact from his workers.  He has been sending emails and using the “boss of it all” as a fake president.  But now he wants to sell the company and needs a president to sign on the deal.  Too bad the Kristoffer (Jens Albinus) is a serious actor, who quickly finds out that his script is incomplete.  Aside from marriage, homosexuality curing session by an amorous and lethal HR femme fatale (sex given by Lise (Iben Hjejle), who was actually John Cusack’s love interest in High Fidelity), and even a few bloody noses; there is still enough humor that I was laughing from beginning to end.

Part of the reason for the humor was that the film is set-up a bit like The Office.  Using a more documentary feel to convey what’s going on.  This adds to that mounting comedic tension while also allowing for some fiddling by the director.  Lars von Trier takes a hands on approach that immediately removes the distance between viewer and film.  We know we are watching a film, which means that certain comedic tendencies which would normally be less humours are played up to the point that the generic nature of the actions make those moments funny.  That was a mouthful, but it demonstrates that even though von Trier has moments of lunacy, he firmly grasps that a more postmodern slant on film adds new possibilities.

And then you realize that his new vision of camera work does not really add much to the film except for may jump cuts straight out of the French New Wave.  It is a bit annoying at first, but you do get used to it.  While this may seem a bit out of place in terms of advancing film, it is perfectly in place in a discussion of postmodern film.  The Boss of it All creates an homage to the French New Wave without being cheesy or perhaps even trying.  There is a very postmodern feel to this connection due to it’s blank parody of the movement and also it’s recalling of the past without an essential reason for the regression.

Look, it’s a foreign film by a well known maverick director.  Right there I was excited, but what amazed me was that the film, aside from the director’s eccentricities, was really well done.  I thought there were moments that I will remember for years to come.  The Boss of it All has this quality to it that transcends mainstream comedy and independent notions.  It is what it is, a damn funny film that has sex, an Icelandic boss that is only a short jump from a Viking helmet, and Gambini.  Now you have a reason to watch it.