Why does the look of these Nordic films make them better?

You do know of the Dogme 95, the concept of avantgard filmmaking that von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg came up with in 1995? That's the reason the film looks gritty and raw. It's not suppose to distract, quite the opposite, more of a "real" feeling, if you get my point. But to be honest, it doesn't distract me at all, though I haven't got the newest TV exactly. I guess you have to skip looking at it in HD, would be sad if you can't enjoy it.

From what I know Trier just did "Breaking the Waves" and "The Idiots" with the concept and Vinterberg only "The Celebration". Both are "uncredited", since that was part of the 10 "Vow of Chastity" in Dogme 95. But they obviously scrapped the project pretty quickly.

Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vow of Chastity" (Danish: kyskhedsløfter). These were rules to create filmmaking based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, and excluding the use of elaborate special effects or technology in the hope that the industry would give the power back to the artist as opposed to the studio. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogme_95