Festen transcends tech limitations, and then some As the fans of Terry Gilliam out there can tell from my name, Brazil is indeed one of my favorite movies of all time. Comparing a movie of Brazil's visual grandeur to this brown-saturated, grainy, blurry film is like comparing apples and dinosaurs, but I mention it because each movie has its own visual tone that perfectly suits the material. Festen does not look as clean as most Hollywood movies do, but then, the material's a whole lot less clean as well. As it is, it just looks like a feature-length finalist from America's Funniest Home Videos, and its just as disturbing. And I mean that in the best possible sense. Watching Festen was the strongest cathartic experience I've had this year at the movies, and I think the natural film shooting policies Vinterberg has adopted have paid off here in making it seem like a real story with real people that you care about. It's like watching a play: there's nothing between you and the actors to interfere. Having also seen (and also loved) The Kingdom and Breaking the Waves, I think there's a lot to be said for the unusually extensive use of handheld cameras in film. But I can like a movie like this _and_ a movie like Brazil, because they each have their own appropriate visual aesthetic. Second best of the year (after Pi, which also used a similar visual texture, only in black and white. yeah yeah, I know, I'm this close to being a film student Nazi.) Vinterberg and Von Trier may be pulling a big publicity stunt, but I think it's all of us who are going to benefit from it. Looking forward to Idioterne.