The Five Obstructions

Omnimog

Mindblowing! I honestly did not know much about this before watching, and my expectations were a blank. But this is brilliant on so many levels. Technical superb, delicious editing, and intriguing as a human portrayal of two brilliant minds. I am in awe. Just one of the finest works of art that I have seen.

Chase

Great to see Leth and von Trier at work, also weird to see von Trier and how he treats Leth pre-"Antichrist" breakdown. The second obstruction was my favorite, while the last really caught me off guard.

call_me_Al

I thought it was fantastic. It is a visual representation of what it means to be an Auteur. A test of a true artist. I'm actually unfamiliar with the films of both directors, but I plan on correcting this mistake soon. A very fun and intriguing movie.

Matthew Martens

Von Trier hopes -- not unlike Tom in Dogville -- to illustrate one of his pet theories about the relationship between art and humanity, to prove that crippling the former, in some sense, is necessary in order to bring it closer to the latter. And possibly vice versa. Leth is credited as the director here; von Trier is the "obstructor." This is the compelling record of their strange experiment in creative destruction.

HEDONIST

It was a privilege to be able to watch two great filmic minds bounce ideas off each other in this manner. I was very impressed with Jørgen Leth and the way he carries himself. Von Trier is a wonderful character in himself, such brilliance; yet, such indulgence -- I love it. I am now intrigued to watch the full version of The Perfect Human, seems to be quite a groundbreaking film for the time period.

Stefan Drees

In my opinion a fascinating movie about preconditions and obstacles as stimulus for the creative process.

Phil Worfel

All kinds of fun. Its nice to see that Von Trier is as sadistic with his mentors as he is with his audience.

msmichel

Von Trier, ever the agent provocateur, cast his designs on a filmmaker he truly admired with this incredible experimentation made in collaboration with Jorgen Leth. He challenged Leth to remake his classic short 'The Perfect Human' five times abiding by obstructions Von Trier would hand out. However the brilliance of Leth's filmmaking provides the only true obstruction of Von Trier's designs. One of the decade's best