Quick Movie Reviews
Rating of
3.5/4
mitchellyoung - wrote on 11/30/2010
Although I'm not a fan of many of the Dogme 95 films, The Celebration holds up as one of the best. It's unfettered by clever camera tricks or special effects and is simply a raw and oftentimes heartwrenching portrayal of a family torn apart by tragic revelations. The acting is extremely naturalistic and incredible and the film manages to inject some well-written humor into what is an otherwise tense and unblinking portrait of a family on the brink of destruction.
Rating of
4/4
industrialist - wrote on 09/13/2009
Vinterberg ushers in the raw, grainy Dogme 95 movement with a dark, sometimes humourous, oft-times confronting examination of uncomfortable truths within a dysfunctional family. At its heart is Ulrich Thomsen's tortured performance as a bitter, broken son who exposes his Father's sexual abuse during a birthday toast. Dimwitted, hair-twirling mouthbreathers that consider 'Raising Helen' an edgy family dramedy will struggle to endure the more harrowing themes of racism, repression and emotional collapse from which there is no recovery, as well as the Dogme pronunciamento of handheld filmmaking and minimal technical overlay.
