Review of Dennis

   This week I watched the short film Dennis, a Danish short about a painfully shy bodybuilder who lives with his needy mother. One day he decides to ask an acquaintance out on a date and, against his mother's wishes, sets out on an awkward and somewhat embarrassing evening. Dennis is preparing for the Danish National Championships, but his hard physical work doesn't seem to give him much confidence and on the contrary he sees his body becoming a freak show instead of an accomplishment in the eyes of women.
   Dennis is most notable for it's non-intrusive shooting style (likened to dogme-95 by the website review) and emotionally-driven plot. In my opinion, the emotional backbone of a story is the true bottom line; with or without a hundred other things (lighting, blocking, sound mix, etc.) the story and the emotions behind it are the only things that really matter to the audience. In other words, everything else is just icing on the cake. Unfortunately many short films seem to struggle to establish any meaningful characters or emotions within their limited time frame. Dennis succeeds in doing this by portraying the emotion of its characters not through excessive dialogue, but through effectively letting the camera be an observer into the silent actions of a man. I don't know if it qualifies as "dogma-95" filmmaking, but it certainly qualifies as an emotionally moving short film.


Watch Dennis HERE