The first movie I saw from director Felix van Groeningen was The Broken Circle Breakdown , which I absolutely loved. It made me curious about his other movies, especially after hearing that his latest movie Belgica (which was released this year) was also worth watching. So I decided to check out the DVD of Friends Like These to find out if I would like to check out more work of his.
Black Kelly (Wine Dierickx) once moved to he US to start a career in the world of fashion. After several years she decides to head back to Belgium for a short while to visit her mother. When she arrives at the station she meets Frederic (Jeroen Perceval), an old friend and together they decide to meet up with some old friends. But the appearance of Kelly unleashes a lot of emotions as old wounds are reopened and as this puts pressure on various relationships.
van Groeningen takes his time to tell this story, giving the viewer ample time to get to know the characters. With strong performances the emotions are very raw and believable. This is one of the first movies van Groeningen made and here he already showed how capable he is in telling personal stories. There are a couple of sequences which don’t add much to the overall story, like a subplot where a friend of the group committed suicide when they were younger, but that doesn’t harm the film. This is definitely a movie worth watching if you want to check out more of van Groeningen´s work.
