(2006, Den, 109 min) Dir Jan Hodl (Uncredited). Cast Per Spee, Tomas Peter, Michael Samsa.
When people think of Dogme 95 they invariably think of the first two, Festen and The Idiots by Vinterberg and Von Trier when in fact there were a great many more that received the official certification but didn’t make as much of an impact on the public consciousness. Number 47, Midnight On, is one such film. Like the great majority of Dogme film, the muddy mundanity of the visuals seems, at a glance, to be reflected in the content, following as it does one night in the life of a trio of suburban Satanist youths as they drink, smoke drugs, take a stolen car for a spin and, from the titular time of night, worship their dark lord. A closer inspection reveals the dark comedy at play with mothers not having washed certain members cloaks, a sacrificial kitten being too cute to kill and even the joyriding going awry when they are confronted by the vehicle’s burly owner. The film’s kids are trying their best to be grim and gritty but just don’t have what it takes. Even the patented Dogme style works for once too – while not a found footage film it looks like it could have been filmed using equipment any one of these middle class children have lying around in their house.
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