Lars von Trier

Youth in Revolt: Leonard Proxauf plays Martin, the rebellious son of a stern pastor, in Michael Haneke's 'The White Ribbon.'

Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

Though Lars von Trier is often hailed (or derided, depending on your sensibilities) as European cinema’s foremost provocateur, let’s not sell Michael Haneke short. The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane recently described the German-born auteur as “unsmiling,” but that doesn’t go far enough. Haneke is an art-house terrorist, and I say that with no small admiration. He confronts us with images ranging from the vaguely unsettling to the downright appalling, and our discomfort is his reward.


Timothy Spall (left) and Michael Sheen star in 'The Damned United,' a compelling account of soccer coach Brian Clough's epic collapse.

Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

A pair of anti-corporate celebrations of muckraking arrive at the Roxie this week, where The Yes Men Fix the World documents a series of elaborate pranks aimed at exposing hypocrisy and "unmasking global injustice," and Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story takes its final bow before exiting theaters. Elsewhere:

Dafoe, Gainsbourg commit the Original Sin in von Trier's perverse vision of Eden.

Courtesy IFC Films

How does one begin to describe a film like Antichrist, aptly characterized in the press notes as director Lars von Trier’s latest provocation? It is repulsive and perplexing. It is also brutally effective.

This is not a film for the squeamish. It is, by design, a disquieting experience, filled with images of extreme violence, often perpetrated for no compelling or discernible reason. The question is not so much whether you’ll enjoy the film, but whether you have the stomach to tolerate it.