Hello everyone.
I saw the film a couple of days before Spiros and I found it a masterpiece as well (by the way the cinema in which I saw it was equally excellent. It is situated in Koukaki, it is non-commercial, up to the highest standards and with a very good, cheap and warm bar. I am not intending to advertise it, since I have no interest whatsoever, but I strongly believe that this kind of cinemas constitute a resistency against the mass culture and production and it would be nice to be supported). I will also agree with Spiros, it was British realism at its best, like most of Mike Leigh's films (e.g. Naked and Secrets and Lies), but I really think that there is equally powerfull realism elsewhere and especially in Scandinavian films that Spiros seems to accuse of pretence. In my opinion, Festen (οικογενειακή γιορτή) might be the best film of social realism I have seen the last five years or so, indeed even better than films such as my name is Joe and Vera Drake. I suppose even the British acknowledge that, because it was made into a theatre play with enormous success in London, although I watched it and I left somehow disappointed, since it did not even approach the power and strength of the film. Dogme 95, utilized in some Von Trier's films as well (in my opinion the most prominent was the idiots, a really anarchic parable and satire of modern culture) was a revolutionary technique and it was his brainchild. Enough for now, but it is great to have discussions not only on translation-related topics but also on other creative fields.
I can live everywhere in the world, but it must be near an airport -and a pharmacy, I would add.
Δεν είναι ο ύπνος της λογικής που γεννάει τέρατα, αλλά ο άγρυπνος ορθολογισμός που πάσχει από αϋπνίες.