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Reviews
Ramses (2002)
great man, not so great film
I enjoyed this film, but not because of the film itself. It was great to see that Dutch singer Ramses Shaffy was indeed a charismatic and even sexy idol in the 60's and 70's (before my time, I'm from '76), but the documentary itself wasn't all that great. The footage from the 60's and 70's was fun, but the contemporary bits looked pretty ugly, and sometimes went over the line in respecting the last bits of privacy of a now fragile man. Ramses deserves a better biography.
Even so, his music is still beautiful.
Pickpocket (1959)
Awful film
Just for the record: I hated this film. I thought it utterly boring. The choreographies of the thefts were pretty good, but I just couldn't stand the wooden expressions of the actors. I know this was intentional, and not a sign of bad acting, but I still hated it. 75 wasted minutes of my life.
Ik ook van jou (2001)
Crap! [possible minor spoiler]
This is one of the worst movies I've seen in a while. The acting was just soooo bad. Anthonie Kamerling is usually a fairly good actor, but in this film, he sounded like he was reading his text from a piece of paper. Especially his voice over was extremely wooden. Beau van Erven Dorens was completely over the top as frat boy Fraser, although this probably had more to do with the crappy dialogue. 'Ik ook van jou' is an adaptation of a book, and it seem like the makers of the film forgot that film dialogue follows different rules than literary dialogue. It all sounded way to bookish.
Some of the situations were very badly visualized. Example: somewhere at the beginning of the film there is a scene where a canoe goes over in a rapid. This bit is just too incredible to be true. You see an obviously rather shallow bit of river, with a lot of rocks right beneath the surface (hence the rapid). We hear some suspenseful music to warn us that there's danger ahead. A canoe with to girls goes over in that rather shallow rapid. Our hero then dives several meters below the surface to rescue one of the girl. Girl swoons in his arms and utters the words 'You saved me...' Vomit!
It actually was so bad, that it became funny. This is sad, because it really wasn't intended. At the intermission I overheard some guy behind me say 'O god, there's another part!' My feelings exactly. What scares me is that the end credits of 'Ik ook van jou' were in English. Does this mean that it will be released abroad? Just when the Netherlands were starting to get a good reputation after films like 'Antonia' (Antonia's line) and 'Karakter' (Character)...
Wilde mossels (2000)
Beer is beer.
Wilde Mossels is a tale of restlessness. It's a timeless movie about young people who don't want to get stuck in the life there parents have. Leen desperately wants to leave his native village, but can't push himself to actually go. So all that is left is working, drinking beer with his friends, and riding his chopper.
It's a film about boredom, but it's far from boring. The photography is beautiful, the acting is intense, and the sound track is great. And it's not just another heavy drama about angst and pointlessness, it's pretty funny as well. Leen hallucinates about a very strange bit of Ireland, and his best friend Daan delivers some first class one-liners.
A must see for anyone who thinks Dutch films are crap. You're wrong!
Brain of Blood (1971)
A bit lame
A bit of a disappointment, this one. It didn't have a lot of effects and wasn't really all that funny. Sure, the acting was bad, but bad acting alone is not enough. More effects, blood, cardboard sets, please!
If you like these old B-flicks, go see Baron del Terror (aka the Brainiac), it's much better.
Spiklenci slasti (1996)
bizarre masterpiece
Where to start with this film. The plot is wonderfully weird, the actors are great, and there are some hilarious animation sequences. I started laughing during the opening credits, and didn't stop until the closing credits. What a brilliant film. I never knew you could do so many interesting things with a handful of nails and some feathers... You just have to see this film to know what I mean.
And afterwards, put on some classical music and get out the rubber boots and peanut butter!
Runaway Bride (1999)
Complete waste of time.
This is the most tedious film I've seen in a long, long time. The running gags are not funny the first time, the end is very predictable, and the scenes during the end credits are just too tacky to be true. I know this sort of romantic comedy is supposed to end in a certain way. Yes, they do get each other in the end, no-one will find that surprising. But that's no excuse for making every other second of the film completely predictable as well!
I've sat trough experimental Russian films with no dialogue, I've seen depressing Hungarian drama's, pretentious films that place image over story line, everything. They were tedious as well. But at least they were original. This was just a waste of time.
The Matrix (1999)
Yeah baby!
I've seen this film five times on the big screen now within a few weeks (I'm an operator) and I still love it. So what if some details are wrong, so what if the romantic touch is boring and predictable. It has plenty to compensate. Hugo Weaving is the perfect villain, slithery and mean, the fighting sequences are among the best ever to be made outside of Hong Kong, the visuals are astounding. But what is most important: it still held my attention the fifth time. There are a lot of great films that are still pretty good a second or even a third time. After that most of them sort of lose their magic, only to regain it after not seeing it for at least a year. The Matrix had me sitting on the edge of my seat every single time within only a few weeks. That's what makes a great film.
Unter den Palmen (1999)
Very long indeed.
I've seen three hour films that went by quicker than this one. The plot was thin and extremely slow. The dialogues were oh, so meaningful and boring. But the worst part for me was the ice cold atmosphere of the film. The blue neon light and the minimal music were all pretty enough, but because of the lack of an interesting story it's all that you remember at the end of the film: coldness.
Zheleznaya pyata oligarkhii (1998)
Strrrange!
I actually had a good time during this film, but that was more because of my sheer wonder than because of the film itself. What a totally weird film! There's this guy who preaches what looks like socialism to the workers in modern Russia. He doesn't get any response from them, but he is being shadowed by some mysterious men in black. This is about all the story it has and it's totally incomprehensible. All through I had this stunned feeling of what the hell is this? It was so outrageously vague it was funny. The photography was pretty good, but don't go and see this if you like a story line, or dialogue.
Following (1998)
Short and good.
After turning it over in my head for a few days, I've decided I like this film. It has a very simple look to it. The black and white, the complete absence of elaborate sets or costumes, the unknown actors, it all creates a very film noir kind of atmosphere. You really get the feel of the main character through all the flashbacks, how confused he gets and how he gets used. And it's a relief to see a relatively short film again for a change. These days, two hours seems to have become the standard. It's nice to see that a good story does not necessarily need a very long time to evolve. In Following every scene counts, nothing is superfluous.
Seul contre tous (1998)
Disturbing and thought-provoking
Seul contre tous is a very disturbing film. The acting is brilliant and the main character is very real. So is the violence. I have seen some very violent films, but this was different. It was real and shocking. As a result of this the film has given me an interesting dilemma. I can't decide whether I feel sympathy for the main character of not. Many of his thoughts and acts are very unsympathetic, but it's also clear how he became this way. You can really understand his feelings, so it's hard not to feel any sympathy either.
Even though it's a hard and disturbing film, I think I liked it. I can't stop thinking about what I saw, and that's a good thing in a film.
Knoflíkári (1997)
Weird, but fun.
This is one of the better films I've seen in a while. It takes you to a series of bizarre inhabitants of Prague exactly fifty years after the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. We get to see the man who cuts buttons of sofas with false teeth between his thighs, a man who spits at trains, the ghost of the pilot who dropped the bomb, and many more. At first the different stories don't seem to be connected, but gradually it all falls together.