'Dear Wendy'

Bullet time

LARS VON TRIER makes much of the fact that he's never been to America (he's afraid of flying), but that hasn't stopped him from arguing – fairly, I think – that globalization of culture means "we're all Americans." He actually only gets writing credit on Dear Wendy, with close collaborator and Dogme 95 cofounder Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration) directing, but Vinterberg closely shares von Trier's politics and aesthetic sensibilities. The set is a minimal town square somewhere in the coal mining Southeast – slightly less bare than the chalk lines on the stage that represented the town in Dogville – and the story centers on a youthful set of natives and their ringleader, Dick (Billy Elliot's Jamie Bell). The plot is something like a younger, less aesthetically pleasing Fight Club: The kids stumble across some guns and find that packing heat is a transcendent experience of sorts, giving them objects to worship and the confidence to command respect. It wouldn't be too risky to see the characters as schema for Yankee gun-toters who, despite their dubious hobby, come complete with "pacifist ideology" and desire to do good, even despite their dubious hobby. The premise provokes at times, but something doesn't quite square in the translation of these ideas into drama, which makes the story fall short in achieving the shocking impact it clearly pursues. (Rachel Odes)