Chance_Boudreaux19

The Celebration is a movie shot in the Dogme 95 style, which means it's only shot on handheld cameras, with no special lights and no effects added in post-production. There are more rules but the gist of it is that a movie that follows the Dogme manifesto essentially has to intentionally be made to look like crap.

Dogme 95 was supposedly created to combat the overly stylized Hollywood way of making films. The thing is, I don't think there's anything wrong with high production values and gorgeous cinematography. In fact, I want films to look as pretty as they possibly can. There are many ways to achieve that and many movies made in the 4:3 ratio look beautiful. There is also nothing wrong with making a movie look deliberately gritty, but I draw the line at making one look like a terrible, homemade video. Some people say that it added to the immersion of it, but it didn't do that for me in the slightest.

The 5/10 rating might seem high for something that I have criticized so much, but The Celebration does have redeeming qualities. The acting for one is great. On top of that, the story is fascinating even if it keeps going around in circles. It's not afraid to go to some dark places, which I appreciate. People compare it to Succession, and I was thinking the same thing whilst watching it. The difference is that Succession has stunning cinematography and The Celebration looks like it was filmed on a flip phone. I might be harping on the issue too much, but I just can't get over how a good premise with actors giving it their all was wasted on such a visually ugly piece of work. It's safe to say that Dogme 95 movies aren't my thing and I doubt I'll be exploring them any further.

Minnie and Moskowitz is tedious and too long, just like most of the films that John Cassavetes directed. The performances are over the top and grating. Seymour Cassel especially got on my nerves with his quirky behavior that I guess I was meant to find endearing. What always baffles me about the films of Cassavetes is the praise that his dialogue receives for being realistic. To me, the way his characters communicate is anything but that. It usually consists of people blabbing about nonsense and doing weird things out of the blue. Maybe everyone in his films is meant to be insane and, if so, then I guess job well done. Most normal people, however, don't behave and talk this way in real life. The only part I really liked was the speech Gena Rowlands gives to her friend about how movies program people to expect life to turn out a certain way and how fake those expectations are.

Nothing impressed me about this mess and I feel like I just wasted my time watching it. The ultimate point of the whole thing eludes me. Was I meant to find the central relationship charming? If so, the movie failed completely, because if I had a choice, I'd never want to see these people together again, and I'd want Moskowitz to jump off a bridge at the end. I think I'm done with watching movies made by John Cassavetes. I really don't find much of either entertainment or enlightenment within them. So far, I've seen five of them and of those I only somewhat enjoyed a couple. I don't want to trash on the man too much, because film and art in general are subjective and if people enjoy his work, then I'm glad for them. For me, though, his works feel needlessly drawn out, annoying and are a general chore to watch. Maybe I'm missing the point of these films, but in the immortal words of Rhett Butler frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.