(1998) The Celebration/ Festen
(In Swedish with English subtitles) ADULT DRAMA
"The Celebration" was released one year before "The Blair Witch Project", I had say this because I didn't want people to think that "The Blair Witch..." was the first to have used the use of hand held camera techniques pointing out that their were others that came before but they were made in other countries. The central idea is the gathering of relatives and friends for a father's sixtieth birthday of a moderate successful hotel resort located far away from the city- sort of like the hotel inn of "The Shining". We had just learned that much of the characters had just come from a funeral of a sister who was living at the resort for we don't quite know in terms of it's circumstances until as the movie progresses. All I can say is that while watching this is like the hand held camera equivalent of Ingmar Bergman's "Cries And Whispers" since the revelations are shocking and demands some mature understanding. It kept me somewhat fascinated until the very end.
"The Celebration" was released one year before "The Blair Witch Project", I had say this because I didn't want people to think that "The Blair Witch..." was the first to have used the use of hand held camera techniques pointing out that their were others that came before but they were made in other countries. The central idea is the gathering of relatives and friends for a father's sixtieth birthday of a moderate successful hotel resort located far away from the city- sort of like the hotel inn of "The Shining". We had just learned that much of the characters had just come from a funeral of a sister who was living at the resort for we don't quite know in terms of it's circumstances until as the movie progresses. All I can say is that while watching this is like the hand held camera equivalent of Ingmar Bergman's "Cries And Whispers" since the revelations are shocking and demands some mature understanding. It kept me somewhat fascinated until the very end.