Schitterend (2024)

Been wondering what the movie was about for a long time

Translated from Dutch · View original

Better than I expected.

And perhaps that is mainly due to the actors, who try with all their might to make something of this shoddy piece of work that is doomed from the start—though I must say that the characters themselves are actually quite well developed. It is the story that tries far too desperately to say something, and perhaps for that very reason makes nothing of it. In any case, they bite off more than they can chew, ambitions that do not match the talent or skill, but also, above all, too much hassle, too many storylines in a film by a director who perhaps dreams of being a Robert Altman, but simply falls short in too much—in talent, in skill, in budget; anyone with more insight into that than I am welcome to speak up.

Still, the result is reasonably okay. I particularly liked Hannah Hoekstra; with her delightfully headstrong character, she is exactly the kind of woman I always go all out for—although experience has taught me that she is hard to live with. Holly Mae, who reminds me of both her father and Terence Schreurs—and yet primarily for their personalities. Gijs Scholten van Aschat, who convinces me for once instead of irritating me.

I often found the visuals a bit too polished, the locations too far removed from anything real and recognizable. That, too, is one of the weaknesses of Dutch film: the excessive distance between the Bijlmer, Betondorp, and Het Gooi. How do you expect your audience to empathize with how difficult your life is when you live in a castle like that and wear clothes in every scene that cost more per item than I spend on food in a month? Yes, it is part of the deal, but awareness of that seems to be lacking.

Translated from Dutch · View original