Lars von Trier is an amazing film director.  And, like he says, he makes films that are like a rock in your shoe.  For me, those are the best kinds of films.

In 1991 I saw my first von Trier film, Zentropa.  This is way before I knew anything about directors; all I knew was it was playing at the Tivoli in Kansas City, only place around that played foreign and independent movies.  Zentropa is a powerful and moving film.  I felt crushed and devastated when I left the theater.

Many years later, Andrew introduced me to The Element of Crime, Breaking the Waves, and The Idiots.  One of our early dates was to go see Dancer in the Dark (starring Björk).  We rented a bootleg of The Kingdom from the indie video store in Salt Lake City (which lucky Andrew had seen in the theater when he lived in Manhattan).

I've watched Dogville (starring Nicole Kidman) several times.  This is one of my most favorite movies.  I could watch this 3-hour movie every day.

He wrote Dear Wendy, which was a great movie about teens and guns (not after-schoolish AT ALL).  I so totally want to be in a gang called the Dandies.  It was interesting to hear him talk about the movie and his own dislike of guns.  He actually did some shooting and learned all about guns for the movie.  I don't know it if was my imagination or not, but I detected a hint of excitement as he spoke about shooting target practice, in spite of his pacifism.

We were unable to see Manderlay in the theater because it never came out around here.  It's the controversial follow-up to Dogville (with Bryce Dallas Howard taking Nicole's role).  He has another movie planned for his American trilogy which is named Washington and planned for a 2009 release.  He has this to say about them, "Put my American trilogy together and you'll have one hell of a grim evening. And you will not be entertained at all!"

The most recent movie we've seen by him is Boss Of It All (which I highly recommend).  Oh, and I almost forgot the movie The Five Obstructions, a documentary he made with another film maker.

I like Lars, and, apparently, rocks in my shoes.