Hacker Cinema
The Celebration
Festen
1998 · Film · 101 min
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
The family of a wealthy businessman gather to celebrate his 60th birthday. During the course of the party, his eldest son presents a speech that reveals a devastating secret that turns the night into a battle of truth and denial.
10 positivefrom 10 commenters
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10 comments on Hacker News
> Someone needs to step up and conserve them.
It's part of the Culture Ministry's Canon for 2006, so it's widely available at Danish libraries. The publisher probably also has digital copies.
https://bibliotek.dk/linkme.php?rec.id=870970-basis%3A47619122
You can also watch it online, if you have a library login:
https://fjernleje.filmstriben.dk/film/2605375700/festen
I enjoyed some of the Dogme 95 films, particularly Festen, but it's hard for me to watch them now being aware of what an abusive environment both Jensin and von Trier presided over.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_von_Trier#Sexual_harassment_allegations
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/10/lars-von-trier-producer-peter-aalbaek-jensen-stop-slapping-asses
Festen (The Celebration) is one of my all time favs. A couple years ago I decided I had to own it because it was so hard to find. Incredible how hard it is to find movies like these from 15-30 years ago. Someone needs to step up and conserve them.
Just watched this again few weeks ago since 90’s. So good still. It seems that Succession has taken quite a bit of influence from Celebration. I think calling the pilot episode Celebration might have been nod to that direction. The somewhat restless camerawork in that series is where Dogme style lives on.
I loved most of the Dogme files - including the idiot, Festen and a few others. Not at all unwatchable, but certainly uncomfortable.
In my opinion, great art and great entertainment are two independent dimensions of filmmaking. Dogme films were (imo) great art, but difficult entertainment.
I had to stop watching that sort of thing after von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark (not a dogme film). I felt awful for a week.
Have you considered looking towards foreign films, which may have a different way of telling a story? Some were popular in the US, like Amélie and Pan's Labyrinth, and of course there's the Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film.
Less popular ones include those listed at http://the-artifice.com/best-foreign-films-last-15-years/ , like Run Lola Run/Lola rennt, Noi the Albino/Nói albínói, Moolaadé, Second Skin/Segunda Piel and The Celebration/Festen.
No Hollywood film has covered female genital mutilation, which is the topic of Moolaadé, and Festen is part of the Dogme 95 movement,"to create filmmaking based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, and excluding the use of elaborate special effects or technology."
There's also Russian Ark/Русский ковчег, which is a single, uninterrupted, 87-minute take through centuries of Russian history while going through the Winter Palace at the Hermitage Museum. Or any number of other lists of notable foreign films, like http://www.salon.com/2015/01/24/7_must_see_foreign_films_that_didnt_get_an_oscar_nod_partner/ or http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-foreign-language-films-decade-so-far .
I don't think the Avatar example is appropriate. Avatar is competing on the top and few films have a budget like it. There are ten of thousands of films in the same year that can't move higher because they can't be distributed in a better way.
BTW, I think films like Russhmore (1998) and Festen (1998) are much better than Avatar. My complete ranking here: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur0601133/ratings?start=1&view=compact&sort=user_rating:desc&defaults=1&scb=0.3476005101110786
A few of my personal favorites:
Joint Security Area and Old Boy - two movies of totally different style from brilliant Korean director Park Chan-wook
A Separation - an excellent Iranian family drama, great actors, a surprising script, my personal favorite from the last few years
Reservoir Dogs - and almost all Tarantino movies
Gran Torino - Clint's beautiful farewell
The Celebration - Dark comedy/drama, the highpoint of Danish Dogme 95 movement for me
I've seen many poor Dogme95 films, but I can heartily recommend Thomas Vinterberg's Festen as both a prime example of the experiment (he was one of the co-institutors of Dogme) and a great film on its own merits.
- I Heart Huckabees - You, Me And Everyone We Know - Juno - The Straight Story - My Neighbour Totoro
Are all straight forward feel good movies.
- Caché - The Lives Of Others - The White Ribbon - The Fountain - Amores Perros - City Of God - Fargo - Dune - Castle In The Sky - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Festen
Make you feel good simply by the presence of their across the board brilliance.