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