Worst. Family. Reunion. Ever. In Thomas Vinterberg’s instant classic, a Danish family gathers to celebrate the 60th birthday of its patriarch, hotelier Helge (Henning Moritzen). During the toasts, son Christian (Ulrich Thomsen) drops a bomb: he accuses his father of molesting him when he was a child; moreover, Christian says, his father molested Christian’s twin sister, Linda, who recently committed suicide. No one seems to believe him, but as the festivities continue, everyone is forced to take a side, and the family’s many dark secrets begin to emerge and to tear the clan apart.
The film itself dropped like a bomb; it was the first movie to adhere to the “Dogme 95” principles spelled out by Vinterberg and fellow Danish director Lars Von Trier. The list of rules – which require shooting on location, present-day settings, no extraneous action, hand-held camera work, and other restrictions on the artifice and fakery filmmakers usually employ – was widely viewed as controversial and unworkable, but Celebration proved that a commitment to stripped-down naturalism could result in searing, unfiltered drama. Of course, it helped that the actors, particularly Thomsen (later of the Cinemax crime drama series Banshee) and Moritzen, were utterly committed to their roles, creating characters who were frightening and spellbinding in their intensity.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKe_AxTFGXc]