The Celebration

The Celebration

The Celebration

Watch out for the Dogma 95 boys. They're after your mind. And your stomach! What may have worked with the painful love story superbly fronted by Emily Watson in "Breaking The Waves", fails miserably in the set speeches of Festen. My senses could take the whole hundred and five minutes. I would apologise to Thomas Vinterberg, (who it appears does not wish to be credited), for handing out a dismal score based on 75% of a viewing, but you really need to capture my imagination better and sooner than this. Don't even go there!

This surprise success based on an uncomfortable subject has become an essential reference adapted for theater in many countries. The film immediately gives the impression of having been filmed with a dysfunctional iPhone of the 70s suffering from a perfectible autofocus. This is certainly the expression of Dogme 95, a manifesto of a strong desire of the directors Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier to move away from a cinematographic world they consider too licked, too clean, too artificial, returning to a sobriety more expressive, more original, more formal, with an excessive despoilment of any aesthetic ambition. This impression will last until the last minute. After this rather negative observation, the film is excellent: between the dialogues, the acting and the unfolding of the story, it keeps you out of breath and you will wait for the epilogue with an unbearable impatience. A must see!

I always wanted to watch "Festen" since I knew about the Dogme 95. As any Danish movie, it was released in a unique cultural theater. And, as most of the European movies, in less than 3 weeks, it wasn't... OK, you'll tell the truth: I don't know why but I didn't watch it on a theater, and I could have done it. I waited for its release in video but all the times I went to the videostore I forgot to rent it. But one year after the release on theaters, it was rolling in Eurochannel (a cable-TV channel. It's all about Europe). I couldn't miss that chance so, on a Friday night, at 22:00, I finally watched it. And what an AMAZING film!!! At first, the plot seems interesting and simple but after 20 minutes you finally realize how strong and provocative Festen really is. It's about one celebration made by the patriarch of the family Kingenfelt in the hotel where he lives. He's commemorating his 60 years. Christian, the older son, makes a speech where secrets are revealed. The rules of the Dogme 95 as the use of natural light, camera in the hands, etc, help to create a claustrophobic and confidential clime, like nobody knows that someone is filming them. The scenes look incredibly real. Paprika Steen (Helene) and Ulrich Thomsen (Christian) were more than extraordinary. Paprika is a great actress and I can't stand waiting to watch "Idiotern", the second Dogme, in which she's acting again. "Festen" is not just a worth watching film. It's a worth watching, re-watching, watching again, renting many times and recording to watch it a hundred times. Being the first Dogme, it's a mark in the cinema's history. Grade - A+

Please don't derive the wrong meaning from the title of my (very brief) review! This is an astonishingly powerful piece of film-making, which I caught rather by accident on UK terrestrial tv last week. By turns harrowing and funny, it's not the sort of story that would normally draw me (affluent family disintegrates under the weight of revelations made by its adult children, during a weekend celebration of the father's sixtieth birthday); but I was spellbound by the acting, script and grainy, naturalistic camera work (and NYPD fans, please take note: THIS is the way to handle the 'moving camera'). If thought-provoking film is what you're after, please try Festen. Even if, like me, your first language isn't Danish, you won't be disappointed.

I cannot think of a better film that I have seen; beautiful, visceral, profound and intense, it is a masterpiece. All of the rules of the Dogme manifesto are adhered to and fully justified as the outcome is a uniquely engaging piece of art. Incredibly atmospheric, the natural light compliments the subject matter and the performances which are all marvellous examples of naturalism. The themes tackled in the film are urgent and challenging and the film snakes its way through a plot the endpoint of which you can never be certain. Moving, alarming and ultimately idealistic, I believe it is as close to a perfect piece of art in the medium of cinema as there has ever been...

You need more detail than what is written in the one line summary? Don't be silly. Trust me. Stop reading about it. Go and see it. Then come back and I defy you to try and tell me I am wrong. Oh, okay, if you REALLY need to be told why this is such a great movie then you need a vague grasp of the following words: original, funny, intelligent, shocking, moving, absorbing, beautiful, ingenius, disturbing, memorable. That's it.

Involving, excellent hand held/documentary feel, account of a family reunion in a big old Danish hotel and the gradual, riveting unpeeling of layer after layer of tension and guilt leading to resolution. Super acting and character rendering. Intelligent, funny, beautiful to look at. Apparently subscribes to the "Dogme" film philosophy but it's entertainment first and dogma second. Great.

I couldn't actually give two hoots about Dogme, but this little movie about a family reunion is a pitch-black comedy about parental abuse. Which is a subject that normally p***es me off in a movie. Yet here it is done brilliantly, when the son returns and gives two speeches at the table that are the two highlights of the film. A celebration indeed.