The first in-depth examination of the popular and controversial Danish film movement.
The future of filmmaking starts here. What began as a ripple of discontent in Denmark has turned into a full-fledged new wave. In 1995, when Lars von Trier, not yet the award-winning director of Breaking the Waves, and three comrades issued a tenpoint Vow of Chastity for the making of simpler, more truthful movies, cynics in the film business refused to take it seriously. Five years later, the international success of the raw, uncompromising Dogme95 films -- most notably The Celebration and The Idiots -- has fired a volley of shots across the bows of a staid and bloated Hollywood-driven industry. Richard Kelly's investigation of the Dogme95 movement is a piece of gonzo journalism in which Kelly sallies forth in search of the Dogme brothers and their accomplices, seeking to hammer out truth from rumor in what is itself an appropriately austere and anarchic piece of cinematic mischief. Composed of interviews with the filmmakers, discursive overviews of the films and shooting, and Kelly's own diaries, The Name of This Book Is Dogme95 is nothing short of a piece of instant film history.
The future of filmmaking starts here. What began as a ripple of discontent in Denmark has turned into a full-fledged new wave. In 1995, when Lars von Trier, not yet the award-winning director of Breaking the Waves, and three comrades issued a tenpoint Vow of Chastity for the making of simpler, more truthful movies, cynics in the film business refused to take it seriously. Five years later, the international success of the raw, uncompromising Dogme95 films -- most notably The Celebration and The Idiots -- has fired a volley of shots across the bows of a staid and bloated Hollywood-driven industry. Richard Kelly's investigation of the Dogme95 movement is a piece of gonzo journalism in which Kelly sallies forth in search of the Dogme brothers and their accomplices, seeking to hammer out truth from rumor in what is itself an appropriately austere and anarchic piece of cinematic mischief. Composed of interviews with the filmmakers, discursive overviews of the films and shooting, and Kelly's own diaries, The Name of This Book Is Dogme95 is nothing short of a piece of instant film history.
