jaco66 Review of The House That Jack Built

The House That Jack Built (2018)

It's supposed to be hard to watch

[7/10 · 28 February 2021]

I love that vonTrier is always willing to go where others fear to venture. To those who knock the film for being merely the work of a sick mind, I say no. Humans (some of us anyway) have a fascination with the fact that we have the capability to do terrible things to each other. The scenes that are tough to watch are tough to watch exactly for that reason. This stuff actually happens, and we're always given the sanitized story in news reports. Here it is in stark terms. Sometimes kids are victims. Do we *need* to see this portrayed in cinema? That's up for debate, but films such as this are there to remind us. I think this film does a great job of showing us how the mind of a lunatic might work. And credit that to Matt Dillon. IMHO this is his greatest role.