AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

lasttimeisaw The very first feature from Dogma 95 movement, Thomas Vinterberg's audacious family exposé sets its narrative entirely within a one-day spell, Christian (Thomsen), a seemingly-decorous man comes from Paris to celebrate his father Helge's (Mortizen) 60-year-old birthday at their family-run hotel in a rural Denmark, other family members and friends are also invited, including Christian's younger sister and brother, Helene (Steen) and Michael (Bo Larsen).Frenetically embracing itself to the Dogma 95 doctrines and its trimmings, the film plays out like a horror movie that anticipates the low-budget found-footage creepiness, natural lighting counterpointing its formal grandeur of the event, hand-held camera slithering around like an insidious creature from all possible approaches to observe the impending drama. Vinterberg pulls no punches from Michael's horrendous excesses, insolent, finicky and randy, a male chauvinist pig (with the plot thickening, violence and racism would in no time join up), he is egregiously obnoxious, which trenchantly conveys the impression that he might be the black sheep in the family, who could cause some riot and embarrassment to his holier-than-thou parents, that's a splendid trick to set the premise. On the other hand, a more haunting undertow trickles in concerning about Christian's twin sister Linda, who committed suicide of late in one of the hotel room's bathtub. Through a jumpy montages of actions occurring in each sibling's rooms (boosted by a brilliant idea of peeping from an angle of surveillance), Helene discovers a note Linda left in the latter's room, its context would give the final word about the dirty secrets concealed in this family.The main event of the day is the birthday banquet, Helge, a quintessential upper-crust patriarch, having a stable marriage with Else (Neumann) over 30 years, is well positioned to enjoy that particular day, before all the congratulatory mirth would uncomfortably dissipate after Christian's bomb-dropping toast, not one, not two, but three, vitriolically aiming to his parents. He is relentlessly charged, to seek out justice in his own term (also on behalf of Linda), and the guests' much subdued reaction has been palatably teased out to an almost implausibly farcical sphere, hypocrisy and self-denial run rampant whilst the celebration must go on, at least on its face value (aided by a ludicrous car-keys hiding scheme conceived by the chef). Suddenly, it reminisces of Luis Buñuel's surreal allegory THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962), no one can leave the party, where moral corruption and sickening frailties are perturbingly disclosed. Vinterberg displays a shrewd discernment of the socio-psychology among his subjects, and the ensuing pay-off is uncompromisingly gripping, until the finale sets its ambiguous tone on the aftershock. What happens happens, the surviving damaged goods have to carry their bloodline no matter what, a human tragedy stems deep from the vein of human nature's vice and cruelty .The Danish cast illuminate with affecting performances galore, Thomsen as the silently-fuming Christian, Steen as the unstably nervy Helene, Moritzen as the unfazed Helge all leave indelible marks in their conflicting narrative arcs; yet, it is Neumann, who kills in the scene of her double- edged speech, such an atrociously refined poise achingly testifies that her Else, should be condemned with no less culpability than her children-molesting husband, and in her final shots, she still vainly attempts to come clean out of it, that is a truly extraordinary scene-stealer. Finally, a disconcerting gripe falls on to Bo Larsen's Michael, a shifty-looking youngest son, he is the bad seed who inherits all the deflects from his parents, and the fact that Vinterberg chooses him to stand in a moral high-ground over them does contribute to some ill-feeling of this otherwise groundbreaking feature film, a liberation from machine-bound unwieldiness and trimming down all the usual accessories, puts the thorny narrative in the centre with raw fierceness and closeness, ultimately, it hits like a sledgehammer, take that? Lars von Trier!

paul2001sw-1 'Festen' was the first film made under the 'Dogme 95' manifesto, which called on film-makers to abandon trickery and simply record what the actors did in front of the camera. The merits of the manifesto lie less in the fact that such trickery is bad (indeed, there are always new tricks available to the clever artist, and the wholly naturalistic film would be wholly dull), but in that it encouraged directors to think about what they were doing, and not fall back on clichéd short-cuts to induce certain responses in the audience. But a great film is a great film, whatever the rules under which it is made; and 'Festen' reminded me of Robert Altman's 'The Wedding', which begins with a long zoom shot from a static camera, the complete antithesis of the hand-held style that 'Dogme 95' dictates.'Festen' starts as a black comedy, the tale of the re-union of a highly dysfunctional family. But it soon becomes clear there's a reason for this dysfunction, and the story soon becomes truly horrifying, yet utterly convincing in its depiction of how a bully can remain unchallenged. Perhaps the take-home message it that crimes that can never be forgiven can never be acknowledged, either. Although the darkness gradually overwhelms the humour, it's a superbly executed movie, ultimately sympathetic but completely unsentimental, and with an immediacy that is the benefit of the chosen method.

Turfseer The noted Danish director, Thomas Vinterberg, asks the question, 'is there nothing sacred?', and decidedly answers in the negative. Some may call 'The Celebration' a black comedy, which according to Wikipedia, fits the definition: "In black humor, topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo…are treated in an unusually humorous or satirical manner while retaining their seriousness." But the film also falls under the broader category of farce: "a farce is a comedy that aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable…Farce is also characterized by physical humor, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances…Furthermore, a farce is also often set in one particular location, where all events occur."If one accepts Eric Bentley's definition of farce where one is permitted the outrage without the consequences, then Vinterberg has broken the societal taboos of pedophilia by asking us (in effect) to consider that the consequences of such a transgression might not be as bad as one thinks. Indeed, when Christian spills the beans at his father's big birthday bash that he was molested by his father as a child, the outrage is certainly there for all to see-but the consequences are hardly what the viewer is expecting.'The Celebration' reminds me of a much darker version of 'Seinfeld'. The four 'Seinfeld' buddies are deeply flawed human beings, but once they come across a much darker force (The 'Soup Nazi' as one of countless examples), they must prepare themselves to do 'battle'. The end result is that our 'heroes' may end up a bit 'bloodied', but their far more neurotic counterpart, must inevitably receive his/her comeuppance.Hence, Helge's children, Christian, Michael and Helene, are cast as the protagonists, who inevitably must take their 'evil' father down. But along the way, they too, with their serious flaws, are exposed as pyrrhic victors. Perhaps the most flawed of the three children is Michael. Immediately we see what a hothead he is when he kicks his wife and children out of the car, to give his brother a ride, driving up to the family-run hotel where the celebration will take place. Later, he flips out completely, berating his wife for forgetting to pack his favorite shoes, that he was planning to wear at the party. If there's one wrong note in the film, it's Vinterberg's decision to cast Michael as an out and out racist, after he sings a racist song, disparaging Helene's African-American boyhood. The whole idea here is to highlight the characters' limitations, not make them unsympathetic!Vinterberg also hints that Helene has not lived up to her expectations. When she finds a suicide note belonging to Christian's twin sister, Lisa, who killed herself a couple of months before, she ineffectually hides it, afraid to reveal its contents to anyone. Helene's mother, Else, expresses her disappointment in her surviving daughter by alluding to her failed career choice as a singer and her flirtation with socialism. Else's racism is much more subtle when she claims Helene chose 'anthropology' over 'law' (a dig at Helene's black boyfriend).And finally there's Christian, who Helge reveals during one of their 'one-on-one's', has a history of psychiatric problems and failures of relationships with women. While a victim of sexual abuse as a child, Christian can only ineffectually lash out at his parents in front of friends and family members. Even after his initial claim of abuse, he comes back for 'more', castigating his father again and then his mother, claiming she was a witness to Helge's pedophilia and did and said nothing. The whining Christian ends up being tied to a tree by Michael, as the younger son believes his mother's story that Christian is a teller of 'tall tales'.Soon, however, the far more disturbed Helge gets his comeuppance. After the toastmaster reads Linda's suicide note (given to him by Helene at Christian's behest), the deceased daughter implies she was also molested by Helge (as part of a dream, she says). Helge finally owns up to his behavior, by outrageously stating that was all Christian "was good for." But instead of anyone calling the police, the consequences are minimal for the family patriarch. That evening Michael administers a non-lethal beating; in the morning he beats a hasty exit as Michael asks him to leave the breakfast area—with the further proviso that he will be not be seeing his grandchildren ever again.As for Else, she declines to join her husband 'in exile'. Some internet posters have stated that she too deserved Helge's fate. But consider this: at the time the abuse occurred, what could she really have done? If she had went to the police, would anyone have believed her? Or if she tried to leave with the kids, what kind of financial support would she have had and wouldn't have Helge done everything in his power, to prevent her from taking the kids?You may have noticed, of course, the low quality of the film's production. That's of course due to Vinterberg's allegiance to the Dogme 95 Collective school of filmmaking, which Vinterberg was one of the founding members. We all remember what this silly avant-garde movement was all about: no props, no music, a hand-held camera, filmed on location, director getting no credit, etc. In short, Dogme 95 was just another word for 'low-budget' and a well-meaning attempt by independent filmmakers to achieve parity with the big-budget studios.Vinterberg's real achievement here is extending the genre of black comedy into a new realm. Taboos are refreshingly swept aside with a 'happy ending' (the antagonist is dealt with by his family not the police; facing ostracism instead of a criminal sentence). 'The Celebration' is not much of a 'laugh-out loud' spectacle but still manages to be fairly original.

MrDude_o_o Camera work of the film gives the viewer a "part time job" to work in a birthday party as a cameraman. Vinterberg's technique is not unique of course; for example two years before Festen, Refn's Pusher has the same style. Some angles he uses also remind me of Cranes Are Flying - especially the stairs scene. However, camera work still provides various fresh executions such as there is a scene where camera changes its position quickly (pulled from its place in a harsh way so it can be put in its new position) to follow the car which enters the garden behind a wall or there is a scene where camera behaves like a fly, after a flight, resting on a bed for a short time. Dynamic editing also gives the viewer a great pleasure. Brilliant film-making.