My journey of discovery of Dutch movies continues with Publieke Werken. A movie which didn’t really appeal to me. Even an interview I watched with the actors also didn’t manage to convince me. So not a film I would be buying in the shop, but when it appeared on Netflix over here I was willing to give it a chance. Especially because this is a Dutch movie which doesn’t seem to target women in the form of a romantic comedy, but tells a piece of Dutch history. Continue reading
You might think that as a movie lover I am always looking forward to the various award shows (Oscars, BAFTA’s, Palme D’Ors and in the Netherlands the Golden Calves), but this isn’t the case at all. I never watch them when they are broadcast and except for maybe having a quick peek at the winners those type of events don’t do anything for me. Of course those awards do mean some extra attention for a movie/director or actor, but in the end it all comes down to politics in choosing the winners. It has often happened that some movies got a ton of awards, but which I didnt enjoy at all. This was also the case with this movie which won prizes for best movie, script and actor. Continue reading
My whole life I’ve lived in or around Rotterdam, a city I love with a passion. For those that don’t know the city, it has been one of the biggest ports of the world for years, which always gave it a working class feel (although that has changed a bit through the years). People from Rotterdam have their own way of speaking and their own type of humor and this movie is set in “my city”. The Rotterdam marathon is something I’ve never participated in, but I have stood at the sidelines since my father ran it two times (if I remember it correctly). Suffice to say I was interested to see if this movie would embrace its locale to the fullest. Continue reading
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, at least that’s how the saying goes and it seems that director Arne Toonen wants to really flatter Guy Ritchie with this Dutch version of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. It is a movie which was made for TV (financed by the Public Dutch Broadcasting Corporation), but it regularly happens that they are also shown at the cinema. This was one of them (even though it only had a short run) and I unfortunately wasn’t able to see it there. Now out on DVD I finally had a chance to check it out. Continue reading