After seeing Lukas Moodysson’s black and white mystery film Container last night as part of Lincoln Center’s Film Comment Selects, I was left in a hypnotic daze contemplating first and foremost consumption here in America. The film is 72 minutes of silent black and white footage, mostly of two characters in various messy grotesque spaces, with a continual narration by Jena Malone. Malone speaks in the first person and talks about a variety of things including celebrity culture, Chernobyl/other disasters, being a woman in a man’s body, a porn star named Savannah, and being pregnant with Jesus. I later learned upon reading, that there are 21 voices or stories that she is telling, all mixed up and all heard over the black and white footage.

While I agree with Moodysson, that this is not a film you can decipher in one viewing, I also think that on the surface (since I’ve only seen it once) he has created one of the most poignant critique’s on the container that is American culture and the consumptive nature of all of us that I’ve seen in some time. The black and white images of excess, garbage, human bodies, and simple discomfort create a visual atmosphere that makes you question all the items in your own various spaces. Malone’s voice is calming and serene, a nice contrast to her words that are disturbing, sad, grotesque, confused and brutally honest.

The experimental nature of the piece forces you to consider her words in a different way than if the issues were presented in a conventional narrative. For Moodysson, his presentation is simply a mirror to life itself:

“I’ve met some people in my life who have difficulty navigating in life because they don’t know how to protect themselves from everything flying in their direction. I think it is very interesting to think what happens if you don’t have any defense system at all”, Moodysson says of the way Malone’s voice-over leaps from celebrity divorce to the crisis in Sudan. “If you’re not able to choose, everything flows into you like a big wave.”

“It’s for the people who want to walk with me wherever I walk,” the director says, with a trace of egotism. “Unfortunately, most of the people involved in the film business are not interested in taking those walks.”

Most Moodysson enthusiasts will be heartened to learn that he is currently at work on “a much, much more normal film” with a straightforward narrative. “I don’t think I will make a film like Container again but this was my one attempt at trying to tell everything at the same time.

“I am very happy with the film and I love it very much, but it’s very difficult.” Moodysson sighs. “But that’s just because life is very difficult.” [The Independent [UK]]

You can see clips from the movie below and if traditional narrative is more your thing, and check out some his his earlier work. Also be sure to to learn more about sustainable consumption