David Cronenberg has something that now belongs to Lars von Trier: the sui generis award he received at Cannes for “daring, originality, and audacity.” Actually, Cronenberg’s “Crash” is a more consistent film. Lars’ movie is like Lars himself, overflowing with so many bold ideas that only some of them get fully cooked. There were moments so sublime in this film that I wanted to throw both arms in the air and shout “Yes!,” and there were sequences so preposterous and idiotic that I was embarrased for everyone involved. Von Trier is like Frank Zappa — he sometimes makes you wade through a bunch of atonal noise before you hit that perfect guitar solo. Anyway, there are great moments in the film, and the film will be remembered as a landmark for decades to come. It deserves this status. The big problems are the inexplicable changes the two lead characters go through in the last act. And the shooting style. I dig the stage-set, but why shoot on DV and hand-held? And why use jump cuts? I know why — because von Trier didn’t really know what the hell he was doing and figured just shoot and shoot and make go in the editing room. (This is also why the film is 45 minutes too long.) Von Trier hasn’t really made a “designed” theatrically released film since “Zentropa.” Shooting documentary style has served him well up to now, but the tone of “Dogville,” its actors and set deserved a tripod, 35 mm and some decent coverage. And there were moments when the dialogue just zoomed off into places the characters would never go; it was obvious these were talking points in the director’s notebook that had to be fit in the film somewhere. Other complaints: the narration was overkill. And Chloe Sevigny is a terrible character actor. Let her play a young urbanite like in “Last Days of Disco,” but for God’s sake please stop putting her in period costumes. But why focus on the bad? There is a lot of good. It’s an original movie. The closing credits alone is the best short film I’ve seen in a while. And the non-Sevigny performances are great. I don’t know why people are referring to this as an anti-American film. It is misanthropic, but the characters and themes are not inherently American. If this small town were in France or Germany or anywhere else it would’ve worked the same.