Brussels by Night (1983)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 92 minuten
Country:
Belgium
Directed by: Marc Didden
Stars: François Beukelaers, Ingrid De Vos and Amid Chakir
IMDb score:
6,5 (900)
Releasedate: 3 November 1983
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Actors and actresses
Reviews & comments
Bobbejaantje
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- 2323 messages
- 2101 votes
François Beukelaers is Max, an unhinged figure who seems to be in dire need of a psychiatrist. Fortunately for the viewer, that is not the case now and we follow his trail in the Brussels melting pot, sometimes during the day, but mainly at night. For Brussels connoisseurs, it is in any case a nice sight seeing tour through the Brussels of the early 1980s where you can tick off what has or has not changed in the street scene.
A great added value is certainly the soundtrack by Raymond van het Groenewoud. The well-known title track is now iconic, but the other songs are also very good. It once again demonstrates Raymond's versatile talent.
Direction and photography by Marc Didden and Willy Stassen respectively are perfectly fine. Beautiful long shots that put Brussels in the spotlight, dynamic camera when required, etc. The best moment I actually found was the interrogation of Ingrid De Vos by investigating judge Senne Rouffaer in the semi-darkness, very noirish.
Film and screenplay must rely on a strong atmosphere and anecdotal character, in which the loose ends find each other towards the end. Brussels By Night has an existential side in the figure of Max, who seems to have trouble with the hassles of life and also gets involved in a love triangle with Alice (Ingrid De Vos) and Abdel (Amid Chakir). The film has hilarious moments - that humor of Didden and Deruddere -, at other moments we witness the sadness of people who want to but can't.
What a great debut from Marc Didden.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Filmkriebel
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- 10022 messages
- 4683 votes
Rough Belgian diamond.
As a Belgian who works in Brussels (although that is now less with the teleworking culture) the film managed to get me completely on board. I recognized quite a few places that have now irrevocably changed. Nice to see a decor of telephone booths, marginal cafes where people still paid in old francs, in a time when people still smoked in public places and cars could park for free wherever they wanted. A Brussels that was also nice and folk ...
Max is a self-destructive guy who goes to Brussels to lose himself. He is an asshole, a quarrelsome man, a man who cares nothing about his own existence and does not want to grant happiness to others. He finds "friendship" in Alice, a bartender who also has a half-and-half affair with Abdel, a Moroccan immigrant. But in fact he does not connect with anyone. Sukkelaar Louis comes to complete the trio and together they go on a day trip. And who is Max calling all the time?
Yes, the moody Brussels by Night is an important Belgian film, a classic to be proud of and which deserves more recognition. One of the first more modern films, with an appropriate soundtrack by Van het Groenewoud. The depressing ending also makes you quiet for a while... I thought it was very good.
Translated from Dutch · View original
eRCee
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- 13450 messages
- 1981 votes
Today I'm going to Brussels, some of the less fortunate on this planet live there and need to be visited now and then (not too often), so I thought it would be nice to watch this film beforehand. The beginning of Brussels by night is also nice. It seemed to be a similar picture to that English film from the early 1990s about a kind of philosophical vagabond, I lost the title, I think a word is repeated in the title (?). Anyway, at some point a kind of triangular relationship with jealousy arises and main character Max turns out to be a ordinary psychopath and then the film completely lost me. By the way, the film itself had lost its original music score at that point; the jazzy sounds from the beginning are no longer to be found in fields or roads. What I still liked was the geographic center of Belgium, with those two faded Christmas trees. Continued with some difficulty.
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