Thursday, October 15, 1998
Director hand-delivers family drama
FILM: ‘Celebration’ uses home video camera for natural, familiar
scenes
By Ricky Herzog
Daily Bruin Contributor
Family gatherings aren’t always the blissful reunions they’re
planned to be. "The Celebration" serves up a dark and intense
banquet that exposes the underbelly of family dynamics.
Danish director Ulrich Thomsen took home a Special Jury Prize at
the Cannes Film Festival for his chronicle of a family’s coming
together for their father’s sixtieth birthday "celebration."
Throughout the film, the father makes it abundantly clear that
the word celebration is a bitterly ironic misnomer.
The family’s facade of well-being is short-lived and quickly
descends into a confrontation with a secret the family has spent a
lifetime trying to cover up.
Thomsen plays by a different set of rules than the standard
Hollywood filmmaker – he opts for a much more natural effect. Using
a handheld camera and no artificial light, he creates a kind of
intense home video.
The sometimes jittery and rapid camera movement heightens the
anxiety and complete lack of balance taking place within the
family, while the use of only natural light strips away any
artifice and allows the true face of the characters to be
shown.
Though the film becomes deeply dramatic and almost violent, it
is never melodramatic or overdone thanks in large part to the
brilliant and highly realistic acting. The principle characters –
two brothers, a sister and a father- are stellar and avoid any sort
of contrived acting; their interaction is spontaneous and gripping.
As Michael, the youngest brother, Thomas Bo Larsen delivers the
film’s edgiest performance; his sudden and fierce reactions to all
the events going on around him make the viewer nervous trying to
anticipate what may set him off next.
Thomsen is never afraid to let the camera stray, allowing shots
of the extended family to flesh out the film – whether it be an
uncle greedily gulping down a glass of wine or a grandmother
singing so quietly as to be almost inaudible.
These moments reassert the film’s realism by allowing us to
steal glances at the rest of the relatives as if the viewer is
simply watching home videos of a family reunion.
The cinematography and actors work together to keep the film at
a nervous and even frantic pace, with perfectly timed pauses after
a dramatic moment before diving back ahead. And the energy steadily
increases throughout the film as events come to a head, tightening
its grip on you up until the very end.
"The Celebration" is definitely an edgy, worthwhile alternative
to most of the generic Hollywood melodramas released these
days.
"The Celebration" is currently playing in selected theaters
October Films
In the Danish film "Celebration," a family gathers for a dinner
party and comes to terms with its past.
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