Thomas Schindel

One part Brechtian experiment, and one part send up of America, Lars von Trier imported English language stars (including Nicole Kidman) and staged a 1930s gangsters’ tale in a studio stripped of all realism but blistered with turmoil. You’ve never seen anything like this!

Lars von Trier has never been shy to burnish his reputation as the malevolent puppet master of his protagonists’ misfortune, but never quite so literally as in this playful documentary. One of the great films about filmmaking, The Five Obstructions is a reflexive marvel of cinematic problem solving.