. THE CELEBRATION
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1998 Christopher Null
Does anything come out of Denmark that's not disturbing?
A grand experiment that is a smashing success, THE CELEBRATION adheres to the principles of "Dogme 95," a collective of filmmakers who swear to adhere to certain rules in filmmaking: no studio shooting, location sound only, no music, hand-held camera only, natural light only, etc. The full manifesto has ten rules, *none* of which are commonly adhered to in Hollywood. It's a real surprise to see how magnificent these rules can be when put into the context of a good script and good acting.
But enough about the method. The story is one of a family unraveling during the celebration of the father's 60th birthday. As it turns out, dear old dad's done some pretty unspeakable things, and today is payback.
I won't spoil the rest for you, but THE CELEBRATION remains the best (okay, the only) foreign film I've seen this year. If you're a fan of cinema that keeps you up late and doesn't have a bunch of teen screamers... this one's for you.
RATING: ****1/2
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Thomas Vinterberg Producer: Birgitte Hald Writer: Thomas Vinterberg Starring: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen, Birthe Neumann, Trine Dyrholm
http://www.dogme95.dk/
-Christopher Null / null@sirius.com / Writer-Producer / http://www.filmcritic.com
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