Before watching this movie I didn't know anything about it except for the fact that it was Dutch. Even though their film industry isn't the biggest of all time, I've already seen several good Dutch productions and I know that the standard level of quality is often very high. That's also the reason why I try to watch as many of them as I can. However, when I saw on this website that this movie had actually been nominated for an Oscar, I must admit that I was very surprised. Not because I didn't like it or because it wasn't any good. No, I was surprised because over here no-one has ever payed any attention to it.
"Zus & zo" tells the story of three completely different sisters who don't always get along that well, but who now have to fight for a common goal, called Hotel Paraiso, a hotel on the coast of Portugal that will be theirs unless their brother gets married before a certain age. Normally that shouldn't have been difficult, because the man is gay, but now that he has announced his marriage with a woman, they will have to try to prevent it. To stop their would-be sister-in-law, they are willing to go very far, because nothing or no-one should come between them and their inheritance...
Like so often with Dutch movies, I can't say that I had heard of any of the actors before, except for Halina Reijn. But just like in those other movies, this time too I really liked the performances by all of them. Even though this is a comedy, they never went too far in their performances, but instead made all the characters look very human, with all their little problems, flaws and weird specialties. That's of course not only thanks to the actors, the writer of the script has a lot to do with that too, but still, they did a fine job.
I don't know if Paula van der Oest, the woman who directed and wrote this movie, has ever been in a similar situation, but she sure knows perfectly how to describe the greediness and the double-faced way of acting from people that are about to inherit a lot of money or an important piece of property. She really did a very nice job with it and was able to add some very fine humor to it all. The entire idea behind it makes it all very suitable for a comedy of course, but that doesn't mean that it is automatically good of course. There are many things that could have gone wrong, but Paula van der Oest avoided the traps and made a very good movie out of it.
In the end this may not be the best Dutch movie that I've ever seen, but the humor and the overall quality are very good. I really had a good time with this movie and that's why I give it a 7.5/10.
"Zus & zo" tells the story of three completely different sisters who don't always get along that well, but who now have to fight for a common goal, called Hotel Paraiso, a hotel on the coast of Portugal that will be theirs unless their brother gets married before a certain age. Normally that shouldn't have been difficult, because the man is gay, but now that he has announced his marriage with a woman, they will have to try to prevent it. To stop their would-be sister-in-law, they are willing to go very far, because nothing or no-one should come between them and their inheritance...
Like so often with Dutch movies, I can't say that I had heard of any of the actors before, except for Halina Reijn. But just like in those other movies, this time too I really liked the performances by all of them. Even though this is a comedy, they never went too far in their performances, but instead made all the characters look very human, with all their little problems, flaws and weird specialties. That's of course not only thanks to the actors, the writer of the script has a lot to do with that too, but still, they did a fine job.
I don't know if Paula van der Oest, the woman who directed and wrote this movie, has ever been in a similar situation, but she sure knows perfectly how to describe the greediness and the double-faced way of acting from people that are about to inherit a lot of money or an important piece of property. She really did a very nice job with it and was able to add some very fine humor to it all. The entire idea behind it makes it all very suitable for a comedy of course, but that doesn't mean that it is automatically good of course. There are many things that could have gone wrong, but Paula van der Oest avoided the traps and made a very good movie out of it.
In the end this may not be the best Dutch movie that I've ever seen, but the humor and the overall quality are very good. I really had a good time with this movie and that's why I give it a 7.5/10.