Wednesday, March 19, 2008

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Dogme # 1, Festen. (Dogme # 1, The Celebration). 1998.


Thomas Vinterberg



Vinterberg, and some other Danish filmmakers devised a new way of making films in remote and half of the nineties. Moved to display a kind of cinematic counter is only open opposition to the universally established, forms and funds a stagnant industry, heavy and with little capacity for invention or innovation.

His commitment to this new approach was formalized and its antagonism to mainstream declared. Published a manifesto which sets out the characteristics of the school that he and Von Trier ( Et.al ) gave genesis movies without sex, lighting, post production, effects, surface action, scenery, and music. The purpose is to give full attention to the drama that develops the theme.

The movement in the images is the result of the technique: hand-held camera and tape-recorded 35 mm. As the reader will anticipate, the shots are sordid and complement each other perfectly, in the case of "The Celebration", the twisted central argument. The photograph reveals chaotic and inconsistent with the manner in which the story could be told. The net result is dynamic and clearly label holder of a pilot.

The argument is about a family that owns extensive properties and gather to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the patriarch. At that gathering are heard abominable and terrible aspects that the parent committed against two children (with the consent and complicity of the mother), but none seems outrageous that a hair of the audience and means indifference and impotence led to the absurd.

Each character has a psychological profile and deviant behavior borders on dementia. Despite this being a realistic film with dyes, the behavior of actors suggests some hints of unreality and a doubt about the wisdom of the guests, hosts and the message of the entire tape as a whole. The consequences for the viewer are deep and the end leaves hardly forgettable memories because there is something that is not consistent and it is not possible to identify precisely what it is.

"Festen" is an aesthetic dirty and cloudy. It is rustic in its manufacture but that simplicity is entirely intentional and suggests a different method of reaching the script.