Container (2006)

Poetic, experimental and different, Container is described by Lukas Moodysson as "a black and white silent movie with sound" and with the following words; "A woman in a man's body. A man in... See full summary »

Director:

Lukas Moodysson

Writer:

Lukas Moodysson

Stars:

Jena Malone, Peter Lorentzon, Mariha Åberg

Cast

Credited cast:
Jena Malone	...	The Woman / Speaker (voice)
Peter Lorentzon	...	Man
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mariha Åberg	...	Woman (voice)

Storyline

Poetic, experimental and different, Container is described by Lukas Moodysson as "a black and white silent movie with sound" and with the following words; "A woman in a man's body. A man in a woman's body. Jesus in Mary's stomach. The water breaks. It floods into me. I can't close the lid. My heart is full."

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Plot Keywords:

experimental film | avant garde | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

English Swedish

Release Date:

10 March 2006 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Kontener

Filming Locations:

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Company Credits

Production Co:

Memfis Film & Television, Memfis Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Alternate Versions

The film was produced in both a Swedish and English-spoken version. Actress Jena Malone voices the latter.

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Connections

Featured in Inside the Container Crypt (2007)

User Reviews

"Intorably irritating concoction of self-absorbed verbiage and fetishistic imagery

To watch an avant-garde film is fraught with risk. At times one is rewarded with an imaginative masterpiece, other times one flinches at abominable failure. Alas, "Container" is of the latter kind.

An odd mixture of discordant grainy B&W images and an endless voice-over. Those two components rarely mesh. If feels like watching a muted film and listening to the soundtrack of another.

The imagery is a mixture of transvestism, bacchanals, mild S&M, fetishism, etc. It's not titillating. It is just there as a reminder of the human body as a flexible vehicle for expressing perversions.

The imagery did not bother me. The voice-over did. Spoken in the form of a supplicant whisper throughout, it is persistently irritating. And this before I comment on what is being said.

At first I thought this was a confessions-of-a-trans-gender, a long-winded whining about life's vicissitudes. Later it touches on a variety of subjects: Chernobyl, nihilist thoughts, suicidal musings, and religious drivel. Eventually it ceases to be an individualistic stream of consciousness and morphs into a rambling commentary about humans.

I stayed to the bitter end on account of the advertised promise by an admirer that the end would bring a twist. I felt angry to be duped. The last five minutes are as bad as the first five. Only the most die-hard avant-gardistes should waste their time with "Container".