Film reviews often tell you what would be commercially attractive or to the common expectations. Therefore these descriptions of non-cliché latest movies you might want to see but did not decide about yet.

 

 

The latest films.
(Dutch movies are discussed in Dutch)


 

 

Volle Maan

Gezien: 13 Okt.2002. Geregisseerd door Pieter Kramer met Daan Schuurmans, Cas Jansen, Ellen ten Damme en Georgina Verbaan. Hans Nijboer en zijn broer Ties komen uit Twente en zijn op vakantie met de zeilboot van hun rijke vader, een aannemer. Hans is er met zijn vriendinnetje en nog zeven anderen van school om vakantie te vieren en lol te hebben. Maar wat te doen na het examen? Er is een zekere Treesje die van de psychiater op stap met een dosis pillen veel te zwart en punkerig tegen de wereld aankijkt. Er is een nerd die een computerspelletje voor anderhalve Euro (per verkocht spel zo blijkt later) heeft verkocht aan Playstation. Er is een zangeres die het wel met Ties ziet zitten maar te vrij van moraal is. Afijn ze stevenen af op een volle maan-party waar Sacha moet zingen en Ties zijn podiumvrees moet zien te overwinnen met zijn eigen liedje. Sacha helpt hem over de streep. De nerd krijgt de gekke zelfdestructieve Treesje te pakken, maar met Hans gaat het niet zo goed. Iedereen blijkt geslaagd voor het eindexamen, behalve Hans. Hij saboteerde zijn examen ondanks zijn goede vooruitzichten en cijfers. Hij gaat door voor de goeie kerel voor wie het gespreide bedje er opeens beangstigend uitziet. Hij heeft er niet echt voor gekozen en de existentiële angst giert hem nu door de keel als hij moet denken aan een leven als dat van zijn vader zonder een echt succes van zichzelf. Maar wat dan? Hij ziet het allemaal niet meer zo zitten eigenlijk en poeiert zijn vriendin af die verwachtte met hem te trouwen. Ondertussen stapt een andere meid van de vrienden over naar een rijke Belg die ook een zeiljacht heeft, maar minder netjes met haar omspringt dan de zooi van Twente die met hun halve dialekt haar weinig inspireren. De Belg wil haar verkrachten maar d'r vriend weet haar net op tijd te ontzetten. Ondertussen vergrijpt met volle maan als iedereen naar het feest is en zijn broer succes krijgt met Sacha Hans zich aan de pillen van Treesje. Net op tijd weten ze met de ervaring van Treesje zijn maag leeg te spoelen. Met een ontnuchterde kop heeft iedereen zo met volle maan zijn vervolg in het leven gevonden waarbij Hans met zijn trutje die verwachtte te trouwen met een gedegen aannemer met toekomst een nieuw begin maakt als verhuurder en kapitein op de boot van zijn Vader. Een clean end ook voor Treesje met de Nerd, dat nieuwe begin voor Hans, een muziekliefde voor Ties en alles bij elkaar veel gewonnen liefde met de volle maan. Het script is de reëele weergave van het verhaal van Hans Nijboer zijn zelfmoordkrisis en in die zin geconcentreerd heeft het verhaal zin, betekenis en waarde. Behalve dat het dan scherp is toegesneden op het succes van Costa en die sfeer wil doorzetten zit er nu toch een wat reëler levensbewust thema in dat je verder geen vieze bijsmaak geeft over alcoholmisbruik van verdwaalde jongeren aan de Costa. Een beter verhaal dus dan Costa, zo blijkt na de pauze van de film, maar voor de nieuwe generatie is deze prent even zo interessant als zijn voorganger. (website)
 

Ja Zuster, Nee Zuster

Gezien: 13 Okt.2002. Geregisseerd door Pieter Kramer met Loes Luca, Paul de Leeuw en Paul Kooij. Het is je hart ophalen met deze schitterende musical-komedie. Voor mij moeilijk objectief te bekijken omdat de rolprent perfect de sfeer van de oude t.v.-afleveringen voortzet die ik nog gezien heb. De liedjes maken dingen los van zo'n 35 jaar geleden en de lol zit hem daar voor een belangrijk deel dan ook in wat mij betreft. Een gast in de bioscoop die er nog nooit van had gehoord echter vond het ook vermakelijk al die kinderlijke pret om de boze buurman, de inbreker Gerrit, Klivia's accent en de prachtige liedjes. Geheel gezet in frisse kleuren en verfilmd in de stijl van de beste Hollywood/Broadway musical mag wel gesteld worden dat het niet veel beter kan. Er was zelfs nog een anachronistisch grapje waarbij de "Twips, met je handen op je heupen, met je handen op je bips' in break-dance stijl werd voortgezet waarbij de boze buurman in een dolle bui op zijn kop rondtolt over straat. Wonderwel komen veel van de klassieke liedjes bij elkaar in een samenvattend verhaal van en eerbetoon aan Rusthuis Klivia. Zuster Klivia wordt hierin telkens weer door de boze buurman voor de 'edelachtbaarste' vrouwelijke rechter gesleept omdat hij meer geld wil verdienen en hij haar het huis uit wil hebben. Liever wil hij een leuk rusthuis voor goedbetalende bejaarden dan zo'n stelletje gekken als van Klivia die alleen maar herrie maken. Zelfs voor de kat die een goedheidspilletje van de kelder-knallende chemisch ingenieur kreeg en erdoor geen muizen meer vangt sleept hij haar voor de rechter. Dat alles vruchteloos natuurlijk totdat Klivia wordt betrapt met het terugbrengen van een klok gestolen door de opa van Gerrit, een inbreker die ze asiel verleende. Het rusthuis dreigt te worden gesloten met de arrestatie van Klivia, maar de boze buurman krijgt wroeging en laat zijn eigen huis bij het rusthuis trekken voor de dubbele vreugde van het delen. Prachtig, want boze buurman blijkt een verzuurde homo te zijn wiens ex-vriendje een kapsalon tegenover hem begint. Met een pil van de ingenieur is er daar een leuk feestje, maar wordt het eerst toch niks met de Nobelprijs voor de ingenieur omdat het pilletje zo weer uitgewerkt is. Afijn allemaal leuke scènes waaraan de liedjes het juiste emotionele perspectief geven. Alles erg vermakelijk en voor de ouderen van de zestiger jaren zeker een must. Ontken je kinderziel niet en ga eens lekker volwassen zitten gieren op deze oude Annie M.G. Schmidt-lolbroeken toestand. (website / M.G.Schmidt-site)
 

 

The Guru

Seen: 5 Oct.2002. Directed by: Daisy von Scherler Mayer. With Heather Graham, Jimi Mistry, Marisa Tomei. A light comedy about a certain dance teacher from India called Ramu Guptra who tries his chances in America. His parents apprehensive about his future warn him that he will end up worse in America, but he takes no heed of their advise. First he serves in a restaurant, but too proud he runs into the porn industry with him trying a career as an actor. Very naively he cannot get his Johnson straight before the camera's, but then he sees a better chance in becoming a guru. By accident he is introduced as a guru taking the place of another impostor on a society party on an eastern trip. There he is welcomed and recognized as a guru of sex and the lessons from his porn-colleague he applies in his teachings for the ignorant and frustrated of sex. Meanwhile he falls in love with the porn actress who teaches him the trade and who also like him leads a double life. End good all good they marry, with him snatching her away before the altar from a husband who was more in love with a firefighter. With everybody happy in the end and with a lot of fun about all the naive of the disciple-business and sex-business is this comedy a nice mix of eastern and western cultures showed both as being of the same humanity. We even see the westerners dancing in the indian style and the indian style singing a western song. All very nice and entertaining: East laughs with West, that is how it should be. (website)
 

Heaven

Seen: 28 sept.2002. Directed by: Tom Tykwer. With Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi. To a script by Kieslowski. The story seems to be about terrorism, but it is a lovestory leading to heaven. How odd one may say, but the european cinema has always been morally ambiguous and obscure. Is murder really murder? Is there really condemnation for the good who err or who are the underdog? Sure there is a kind of salvation for our heroin, a certain Philippa, an English teacher who in Turin in Italy is arrested for putting a bomb in an office-building where a drugsdealer who ruined her husband and many schoolkids has his headquarters. The assault fails and two innocent children, a man and a woman are killed. But the movie does not disprove that kind of action although Philippa breaks in tears about it. The woman is justified: she tried to warn the police about the man but nobody responded. Corruption is suggested, but not proven. An assistant translating with her interrogation falls in love with her and cunningly he manages to deliver her from the accusations of terrorism and the imprisonment. The story is quite original and interesting in the scenes of the two getting intimate and escaping to the countryside. We may sympathize with the hit-on-love-and-run-away theme. Discovered later on a farm they escape in the police-helicopter going higher and higher as mystical Jesusses to a heavenly abode. End of the movie. Originally planned as part 1 of a series of three dealing with heaven, hell and purgatory we are left with this first panel only. It does not quite satisfy to see the two lovers escape the bad earth going to heaven in a helicopter. But o.k. the police, the system, the drugs, the offices, the bourgeois is all bad materialism and fighting it honestly, even with errors one may go to heaven. Typically european we just like the Americans can give nice expositions of the problem of being caught in a false system full of corruption, abuse and violence and the heroism of escaping from it, fighting it. But nor in the american cinema nor in the european variety on the society-is-a-nightmare theme do we find much light for a way out of the trouble but by an heroic personal death or arrest symbolizing a new life. The Europeans are tired maybe of condemning simple crime against the system and its people and also America knows the sympathy with the devil motive. But where is the progress? Didn't we achieve anything within society the last half century? Why deny postmodern progress? Because we are not beyond it yet? Is it really that dark and hopeless right now? Not to my opinion. The true stories of this we have to, and do in fact, live ourselves and these ones one must really forget. To heaven with it or not. Heaven must be on earth escaping from the system, a better world begins with oneself, isn't it? (website)

 

 

 

Minority Report

Seen: 28 sept.2002. Directed by: Stephen Spielberg. with Tom Cruise and Max von Sydow. Washington D.C. 2054 is where this crimestory, this thriller is situated. You drive a Lexus automated MAGLEV vehicle to transport you to your work and home. All high-tech it is not for everyone though. There are also poor ones just living like it was the 20th century. Also the sofa looks ordinary and lots of the houses are as they were. The computers of course are wireless, transparent and holographic. Transport and weaponry thus highly advanced do support crime-detection. With the use of precogs, a team of three clairvoyant youngsters are crimes detected before they are committed. Thus one can be arrested before committing the crime if technology can stay ahead of the future that is. The supposed perpetrators are arrested with a 'halo' brainstunner and put away in a state of suspension to suffer an eternal nightmare about their crime. The main character of this story of Philip K. Dick is Jon Anderton. He has lost his son and is determined to prevent crimes, especially murder. The precrime program is experimental though. Maybe it is not so perfect because there are problems with ones free will. Can one control and decide against reality foretold by media? Sometimes there is a minority report (repressed politically) in which one of the teammembers is not in agreement with the rest. So there is room for error, thus finds out our hero who in the beginning of the story himself is accused of a future murder. Everybody runs, so does Jon. In spectacular scenes he jumps from buildings and cars with jetpacked policemen to arrest him behind him. He escapes and gets new eyeballs not to be identified by the iris-scanners everywhere around. He is nevertheless hunted down by a team but not recognized by the spider-scanners finding him. He infiltrates in his old office now off limits for him to abduct one of the precogs who has the info about his innocence in a minority report. But there is no such report. His future crime is at hand and before that he has to find out and decide not to. He does the killing but realizes it is a set up. He discovers the evil genius and manages to trick him with the help of his former wife into proving himself guilty. He succeeds, but in the process are the precogs overruled by the strength of personal volition. End of the story: precrime is abolished. Stunningly pictured looks our near future perfect, be it for the rich only, and did the team of futurologists that helped Spielberg set the scenes a good job. For their technical work all praise. The story itself though is just a normal thriller a bit difficult plotted and sometimes of seeming contradiction, that keeps the attention focussed on the modern obsession with safety and crimefighting like we know so very well from the social injustice of materialistic America. To the plot for example, why would detection and prevention by a team justify the precogs and denial by personal volition abolish them? We, or the Americans, have according this view learned nothing in the future and even precrime won't work. As such not a positive message because of which the movie is to be criticized. It is more the (american) dream or nightmare of what would happen if all materialism would continue for ever without wars. What's the use of all that technology if we're still of social inequality, a hopeless psychology and obsessed with crime? Even if all enmity against it could be banished and declared ignorant. True progress is not found in this sad story of technological extravaganza run out of hand with the human motive. We still await the type of S.F. that can predict a better society and a better humanity that would really deserve such a technological perfection. That would be more logical. But apparently it is to us to make such a world and not to Hollywood to have a claim on a preview. That precrime management profit paradise fails thus. So we have this warning against the naïve and injustice of singular material progress. So be it. (website)

 

Possession

Seen: 20 sept.2002. Directed by: Neil LaBute. With Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam. To a novel of A.S. Byatt. The film portrays the story of a couple of researchers falling in love as they research on the papers of a famous victorian poet, Randolph Henry Ash, who himself was involved in a love drama. Reputed to be a loyal husband Ash turns out to have had a relationship with another less known poet Christabel LaMotte. Uncovering this they find out that LaMotte was a bisexual woman who betrayed her female lover Blanche Glover for Ash. As Christabel leaves for France to deliver a baby that she keeps secret to Ash and the decent community, commits Blanche suicide neglected as she is by the love-affair. Ash only in the end of the movie finds out that his illicit daughter is not aborted, as Christabel first tells him, but is raised with foster parents in France. The lovers never unite again and Ash keeps his image of decency. In the movie we see how illicit sex and art nicely combine and inspire, but that defying the normal course always results in personal drama's that give the arts their notorious shadow of despair. To be boring and proper is no art. The deviance inspires to the sermon of poetry in this case. So also does the modern relationship of the researchers not really cut wood. They are in for an academic success and not so much for something lasting between themselves. Drama and arts, they belong to each other. Happiness and a story only combine in the legendary and mythical struggle of a hero and heroin drawn between good and evil. In the literary sphere though defending love before all we're never sure what other happiness to find but public acclaim for the moral lesson learnt by the drama. Paltrow plays the cool lady to help out the american freefloater of selfcontrol. In the end they fall in love, but science wins. The movietheme is interesting in comparing the two affairs, although the historical importance of Nash' civil drama does not compare to the present day individualistic and scientific research story that is really not so much about love and liberation at all but about class-affirmation. The latter portion of love and literary science is kept in the dark and slips from the memory not really forthcoming in this film that nevertheless is stimulating and entertaining. Stuck in the ego of being critical about the arts and being critical about civil propriety is the middle of modern time spirituality not found with this story alas, and that is a missed chance. In fact it is cultural narcism that misses the analysis as well as the conclusion to shed light in this classy semi-enlightened darkness. (website)

 

K-19: the Widowmaker

Seen: 20 sept.2002. Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow. With Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard. The true story of this drama plays in the cold-war sixties when the Russians want to impress the Americans with their atomic submarine the K-17. At the onset of building the submarine though one is plagued by accidents: ten dead even before the thing is out of the dock. It is nicknamed the widowmaker therefore. At sea the staunch commander tests the submarine diving to the edge of its capacity scaring the whole crew to death. Then they surface violently breaking through the ice to launch a testmissile successfully playing ball afterwards around the ship. Continuing for a mission for the eastcoast of the U.S.A. things go wrong. The cooling-system of the reactor breaks down and the young inexperienced engineer to it is scared to death. He knows about radiation-sickness and upon finding out that people have to be sacrificed to repair the leak he breaks down and fails to serve at first. There are only chemical suits, radiation suits were not provided. That costs ultimately seven man their lives including our hero the young engineer who conquers himself and repairs the leak finally. Just in time because a meltdown would be the result of setting of a 1.4 megaton explosion greater than that of Hiroshima. It never happened but the drama that actually took place is worth the filming. Ford and Neeson are nicely portrayed as the leading officers in trouble with the crew about the proper strategy: should they surrender to the U.S. navy for help nearby and betray the secrets of the submarine? They don't give in save the ship thus and the world from an explosion and are just in time rescued by their own marine salvaging the sub. End good all good a stomach-twisting drama in fact about the dangers of atomic energy and what tribulation the false pride of political opposition prepares for people. Historically a fact is the movie an important contribution to the history of the cold war. Until the fall of Russia the incident has been kept a secret. Now we may know how dangerous nuclear energy can be. Really sick it makes one. It kills. (website)

 

Windtalkers

Seen: 13 sept.2002. Director: John Woe. with: Nicholas Cage,Christian Slater, Adam Beach, Roger Willie. In the 'Naked and the Dead' (ned.: 'Helden zonder Glorie') told Norman Mailer the story of american troops fighting the Japs on the island of Anopei in the pacific. This story of the same category and outline, is about the taking in of Saipan in 1944 preparing for the defeat of Japan. At the time it was essential to communicate in code over the radio to arrange for bombing enemy positions. This was done by navajo code talkers; 'windtalkers'. The navajo code was never broken and contributed by their hero's to the victory over the fascist empire. The story shows to begin with how the leading character Sgt. Enders is honored with a silver star for leading his men into death simply following orders. He throws the medal in the ocean. He suffered severe hearing trauma but manages with trickery to reenlist. He is helped by a sweet woman, a nurse, interested in him, but he is too flipped to pick the taste of life life really up again. He doesn't answer his letters and the lovestory doesn't unfold. He is hooked to an assignment wherein he has to protect the code with a codebreaker. The code before the codebreaker is the assignment, thus is the relationship with the indian a bad one to begin with. Half way the movie he even kills another codebreaker friend of his mate, which makes the understanding worse and turns the goodness of the code-man into a rage of indian revenge against the Japs; only the scalping lacks. At some point though does Enders decides to take the bullet, seeing his code-man even more heroic, passionate and murder-effective than himself, and decides he that 'no one will die further'. A strange decision in the middle of the battlefield, but he manages to rescue the codebreaker (and the code) out of the hands of the enemy. Although dead himself in the end did he die with real honor and not with a medal for simply killing people doing his soulless duty. Now he not only 'saved a lot of marines today' but he also saved his soul. Story over. Rather die with honor than live without honor and/or marry without real love in one' s heart, is the thesis for this story about Americans at war. America has to believe in its military bravery and the second world war is a nice backdrop for illustrating that a flipped soldier can die a hero once converted to goodness. The movie begins and ends in the desert with the navajo Yahzee. The real soul of America is indian in this story. The disappointed one hardly saving his goodness is the American. We feel with this very explicit and naturalistic war-movie packed with action and violence, that America is tired of the war-game and is hardly willing to give more of its honor to the bad asses in the world. America must go back to the model of being native formed by the rituals of the indians in respect with the forefathers and nature. That is the example to follow here and the merit of this movie. The violence, however graphically pictured, may be forgotten. Save the soul, save America and may God be so with them (and with the rest of us that are not of world-dominance any longer). (website)
 

Resident evil

Seen: 13 sept.2002. Director: Paul W.S. Anderson. with: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy. There is a vast conspiration of the military industrial complex that makes huge profits on military equipment, medical care and medicines. In this science fiction tale of horror we see the personnel of the hive as it is called, an underground in a cave suspended laboratory, trapped and killed by a computer that is programmed to defend the world against the outbreak of a genetically manipulated virus that regenerates body-cells after people have died so that they next roam about as zombies only interested in eating other people. There are also experiments done on living tissue directly injected that turned into horrid creatures mutating with lightening speed. The hell is set loose by a couple of thieves trying to steal the virus and antidote by which they think to survive and thrive. The movie begins with the scenes of the computer without warning killing all the personnel. Then we are, mystified, transported to a house outside the hive where the conspirators, who are actually guards, wake up from a defense-attack by the computer that gassed them so that only slowly they recapture their memories. So by and by they regain their criminal memories. They, we mystified again, knowing nothing, are first arrested by a team sent in to find out what's happening. The main portion of the film is about the horrors in the classical 'alien' style, that this team has to face in the high-tech environment. It all looks very much like one of those computergames, with all the kinds of scenes to expect in such a setup. Of course the evil ones die etc. In de end the only two survivors getting out are arrested on their turn by another team that is this time anti-viral, sent in to check out the situation. But the survivors don't get the chance to tell them what happens if they meet with the outgrowth of the virus and the danger of releasing it to the world. Instead, they are contained and controlled in quarantine for being infected. In the last scenes one of them wakes up to find the world completely devastated by the virus. Like a Duke Nuke'm alone against all aliens, loads the survivor the pump-gun for the next round of victory (or defeat). We learn that the more advanced in technology we get, the more horrible our humanity and chances for survival become. Technological advancement as a fight against nature is the outline of this nightmare based on the really existing scientific underground scheming for profits. It is a real danger, so take this horror-game serious! We have to learn not to oppose and manipulate nature, genes, time, people and the economy with it. It brings disaster. That's it. (Website)
 

Signs

Seen: 5 sept.2002. Director: M. Night Shyamalan, with Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin. Are cropcircles a sign of God? In this story we witness how a priest fallen from his belief, because of losing his wife in a car-accident, refinds his creed defeating and surviving an alien invasion. The cropcircles are interpreted as navigation marks for flying saucers. The aliens are green, as tall as men, and very stupid. They try to harvest humanity as a crop gassing them with some protuberance from their arm, just grunting loudly as a threat. A baseball bat and holding our breath before the stinkers is enough to defeat them, however smart their saucers and time-command... Everything tells us that Mr. Syamalan didn't do his homework properly with this one. There is nothing about their reported psychic abilities or technological superiority nor on the higher meaning or apparent knowledge represented by the symbols. After all, even earthly signs have been reported as the Sri Yantra in Oregon e.g.; so they know us very well! And still... we didn't put them out there. Mr. Syamalan should have read our article at this site about it. The movie, however professionally made with good wit, good acting and a Stephen Spielberg-like appeal for children, represents the fear of the ignorant not understanding why we have these signs in the fields these days. The answer of being navigation marks for an alien invasion is simply ridiculous and constitutes a form of intellectual corruption that in reality will only bring disaster to humanity. The story could have been much better than simply stating that the signs are of the devil and that defeating the devil brings God back to the simple American or worldcitizen. The first half of the movie is filled with expectancy: what's happening, should we be glad or afraid? Are we of type one, the believer, or of type two, the skeptic? We are led to believe that we are of type one, the believer thinking that the aliens have no bad intentions. But too many abductions have been reported and thus are the aliens condemned and demonized however different of nature they are reported to be. They are to be defeated, they are evil, all of them and they are only one kind. Thus is the whole logic of the movie in its second half perverted of fear for the unknown and is it as a consequence being full of inconsistencies a complete intellectual failure and even a conscious lie finally falling into a fifties horror cliché. Still it might be so that the signs are a form of communication with us in cyclic terms we do not understand properly, estranged as we are from the cyclic of nature's tempo in our bitchy modern time. Especially after seeing this movie I have a feeling of deep shame about humanity being that escapist about facing the signs of other civilizations trying to communicate to us. Notably with the pretense of SETI to communicate with them! In reality we are not invaded thus, but being told something about the cyclic order of life and challenged to form an answer. To my opinion is the cinema not there to maintain our escapism and repression, but to lead the way in intelligence, resourcefulness and insight. Why would it all be so difficult? Why this insincerity? We are really not such a dumb potter-monkey trying to run from the human reality, unworthy of the human form. It is so difficult because these signs are for real, for real, for real! Let that be proven by this failure! However courageous of Syamalan to start this discussion in the movies, we should not forget to really try to make sense with these, their and our, complications of cyclic management and defend the honor of our intelligence! Come on humanity, find your manhood in this! We are much better and big boys and girls in science these days! (website)

 

De Oesters van Nam Kee

Gezien: 5 sept.2002. regie: Pollo de Pimentel met Egbert Jan Weeber, Katja Schuurman en Hans Dagelet; naar een roman van Kees van Beijnum. Het verhaal gaat over de val van Berry, een 18-jarige gymnasiast uit Amsterdam die met zijn vrienden graag een spelletje met de gerechtigheid speelt. Hij wordt verliefd op Thera een vrijgevochten meid met epilepsie die een losbandig leven leidt. Ze heeft een vaste vriend, een succesvol fotograaf, maar ze heeft ook graag wat avontuur en afwisseling in haar leven. De verliefde Berry is een welkome afwisseling voor haar in haar zorgen over haar twijfelachtige toekomst als naaktdanseres en patiënt. Ze zegt het hem van 't begin af aan oesters etend [lekker, niet lekker?] bij Nam Kee, maar Berry weet niet beter dan dat hij de droom van zijn dromen heeft gevonden. Maar het is een dure meid. Vrij zijn kost geld, dus, om de jeu te behouden, moet er wat gebeuren. Niet trouwen of misschien ook wel, maar zeker een avontuur: een wereldreis naar de meest exotische plaatsen beginnend bij een verblijf in de John en Yoko-suite in Amsterdam. Het geld zamelen ze in door een sleutelgeldzwendel op te zetten met het appartement van Thera. Ze halen tienduizenden guldens binnen en steken zich in te dure kleren. Maar dingen pakken verkeerd uit. De sexspelletjes overschaduwen de verliefdheid en Thera krijgt bij teveel stress een aanval. Nog voordat de reis begint belandt ze in het ziekenhuis en Berry bekijkt het maar, dat wordt niks op die manier. Hij probeert het nog met haar maar 'hij snapt het niet' en wordt door Thera gedumpt. Ze gaat weer terug naar haar fotograaf en probeert de hele zooi te vergeten, herstellend van de verdwazing met Berry. De politie is nergens te bekennen, niemand deed aangifte blijkbaar, maar er is wel een opbouwwerker die de groep vrienden structuur probeerde te geven. Hij organiseerde een groot multicultureel festijn, waar Berry dan ten leste, als de minst geslaagde bijdrage in eigen persoon, helemaal sufgeneukt en woedend teleurgesteld rondloopt met een pistool dat hij van zijn vrienden kreeg om zijn eer te verdedigen tegen Thera's bedrog. Hij schoot er bijna de fotograaf mee neer, maar daarvan terug weet hij zich geen raad meer. Hij wil het pistool nog teruggeven aan een van de vrienden die op het festival de ordedienst verzorgd, maar kan het ding zo niet kwijt. In een vlaag van verstandsverbijstering schiet hij het pistool leeg op de menigte en gaat er vandoor naar een vakantiehuisje van zijn familie in Frankrijk. Daar moet zijn broer hem van de politie die hem belegert redden, met hun lijfspreuk 'We mogen de mensen in het land niet teleurstellen'. De film begint en eindigt met deze laatste scenes door elkaar gesneden, slim in het ongewisse latend of hij nu Thera vermoord heeft met zijn schietpartij of niet. Het thema is in feite het konflikt tussen gebondenheid en vrijheid. Deugd of ondeugd, trouw of ontrouw, is de vrijheidsdrang nu de liefde of het verraad eraan? Geen maatschappijkritiek hier, maar de persoonlijke schuld: ieder is zelf verantwoordelijk voor zijn eigen deugd en consequentie van zich bevrijden zoals het hoort. De film kan ook gezien worden als een goedkoop moralistisch verhaaltje over wat er allemaal misgaat als je breekt met de regels in je verliefdheid of je vriendschap. Omdat dit wat onduidelijk blijft, is er voldoende ruimte tot filosofie in deze redelijk geslaagde rolprent met onze mooie Katja, die de rol van het wulpse escapisme wel is toevertrouwd, en een opvallend goed acterende Egbert Jan Weeber, die de immorele verdoolde goedheid zeer aannemelijk neerzet met zijn verliefde harsens. (website)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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backgroundgraphic: Argotique