At 3:15 in the morning yesterday, I was watching TV in my parents’ basement as is my summer wont, when I flipped to HBO Signature which was going into its, “This Feature is Rated R” screen. I stuck around for a minute or two to see if there would be an N(udity) and SC(Strong Sexual Content) label following the rating intro. Alas, only nudity came up, but at 3:15, beggars can’t be choosers and I waited for the opening credits. To my surprise, they were airing Festen, the first Dogme 95 film, directed by Thomas Vinterberg.

This is my first experience with Dogme 95 stuff, and if anything I held a preconceived distaste for their films because the “Manifesto” seemed utterly stupid. The idea behind the Manifesto, focusing on the story and characters rather than superficial aspects of moviemaking, is good. However, one can tell a great story and include artistic visuals, so why limit oneself? Regardless, I was willing to watch Festen because Dogme 95 has an intriguing aura, I felt I needed to see its fruits.

For the first 20 minutes I was crestfallen, what kind of boring, impenetrable foreign crap had I gotten myself into? Characters whizzed about and many scenes had such different airs that I thought I was just letting symbolism rocket over my noggin. And then; that sweet sweet plot twist was delivered. I had had no idea what the film was about, and the revelation (avoiding spoilers as much as possible) snapped my slouching form to attention. Not knowing the plot beforehand made Festen all the more engrossing, so I implore you to rush to the video store and refrain from reading the box.

Simply put, Festen is excellent. The characters are painfully real and the story suspenseful. Watch this movie, you won’t regret it.

Regardless, I’m still not going to watch Dogville (made by Dogme 95 director Lars Von Trier), I will forever hate Nicole Kidman for her hack performance in Kubrick’s last film.