The Celebration
Director Thomas Vinterberg is one of the four Danish filmmakers (including Lars
von Trier) who signed the "Dogma 95" "vow of chastity" promising films that
were cheaply made, free of studio trickery, and emotionally truthful. The
Celebration delivers: fans of Trier's Kingdom series will recognize
the grainy film stock, jittery editing, smeary lighting, and wildly canted
camera angles. It's a studied rawness in the service of a powerful family
melodrama. Three adult children -- Christian (Ulrich Thomsen), Michael (Thomas
Bo Larsen), and Helene (Paprika Steen) -- and assorted friends gather at a
manor house to celebrate the 60th birthday of family patriarch Helge (Henning
Moritzen). The toasts start out stuffy -- then Christian, the eldest son,
speaks up, accusing his father of unspeakable family crimes. By the time the
dishes are cleared, all hell has broken loose. Trapped in a nightmare of
denial, guilt, rage, and impotence, the family seek catharsis in a rite as old
as Greek tragedy and as crass as Jerry Springer. At Cinema 320.
-- Peter Keough
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