One of his years most interesting and most strange films. Alex van Warmerdam directs his newest creation a story about a family whose idyllic life is disrupted one day to the next by a mysterious stranger's Camiel arrival, who seems to be homeless at first sight. The events take on a surreal twist and you're left unable to guess what'll happen next. It turns out the homeless man isn't what he says he is and the friendly woman whose been hiding him in her house without her abusive husband's knowledge soon realizes that the man's presence slowly turns everything on its head. The kids start acting strange, as does the whole family. Everything just seems to be off and bizarre. During the films 113 min. so many questions are raised that I found myself not even caring what will happen with the family in the end I just wanted answers already, then the director, not to kindly, kind of leaves the whole thing up to the viewers so I ended up kind of just sitting there after the film ended thinking WTF? Warmerdam is basically an unknown director, but in the Benelux States they quite like him, mainly for his grotesque humor that he is able to mix with drama intelligently. Borgman is like that too. You can tell that they definitely didn't want to make a film where they explained everything like they were talking to a child. When we find out information it's a long slow process and just brings up more questions. Because of that the whole film can be described as uncertainty. There are a lot of things that are hard to categorize, whole characters too, but what was really missing was the motivation. It's clear that there is some sort of evil beyond that which can be found in humans and the film is laced with religious imagery (Camiel, was the angel who banished Adam and Eve from paradise). While being able to feel predict the ending you still don't get a sense of why all this is happening, it's even hard to determine at the end who were the "good guys" and who weren't. One thing is for sure you can't really feel sorry for the family, but Camile and co.'s methods are exactly right either. Even with the genre classification we run into trouble. Though it does you typical thriller characteristics it doesn't take the anxiety levels to the extreme. I would say it was an art film, or maybe a drama. The black, grotesque humor is absolutely in a dominant position when naming characteristics, without becoming melodramatically cliché. When there is humor its funny. One of the most interesting things is how Warmerdam tells the story, with mysticism. Its something you can never see, but its always creeping in the background. It kind of reminds me of Twin Peaks. I also have to mention the sterility of the set that really suits the film. The film is minimalist, its stripped and uses basic techniques, and calming shots that just seem to emphasis the absurdity of the film. None of the actors really faced a challenge with their characters, that all seem to repress their frustration and emptiness. The wife is the true protagonist, she sits at home all day and paints, but they have a nanny, who takes care of the kids instead of her. It shows the emptiness of the materialistic western world. They all seem to fear the stranger but never notice they are destroying their own lives on their own without needing outside help. That's kind of the point of the film, that the evil is inside we kind of let it take over. All in all it remains to be decided if this is a serious, symbolism filled thriller or a big head trip and bluff. There is evidence of both so its worth watching to decide for yourself. But don't be surprised if you end up confused. One thing is for sure, it's one of the strangest films of the last little while. If you don't feel like tearing your hair out at the mention of European art films then its worth a look. It will make you think about it for a few days at least. So for that I gave it a 7/10, but this is a pretty sick film so it's not for everyone. https://www.youtube.com/user/Videodromeblog