Gangleri – filmreviews

No IMdB listing for this Dutch film called “Met Andere Normen” (‘with different norms’ “man” refers to a male person). The Netherlands has a rising popularity for native tv-series, often about glamorous women. I hardly watch tv, so I have not really seen much of it all, but apparently an attempt with a full-length film has been made, so just out of curiosity…
“M.A.N.” seems quite different from the tv-series that the Dutchmen will know the actors from. It has a great soundtrack which adds to the strange atmosphere of for example “Amelie“: not entirely realistic and slightly silly. “M.A.N.” has a couple of nice filmographic jokes and nice opening titles, but the major problem is the fact that I find the two main actors not entirely convincing (the others are) which makes this film just not really good. I like it that Matser has tried to do something different though. Would Van Warmerdam found his inspiration here for “De Laatste Dagen van Emma Blank“?

The new film of the brothers Coen plays in the Jewish community of Minnesota in which Larry Gopnik thinks to lead a calm and normal life. He teaches physics as a Jewish highschool and his son is up for his Bar Mitswa. The only thing is that Larry’s brother Arthur stays with the family driving his daughter crazy and apparently also his wife. One thing after another goes bad and Larry no longer knows what is left and what is right. He visits a Jewish lawyer and Rabbis and the film gives a nice peek in the modern, American Jewish society. With the typical Coen black humour a story unravels of a man tossed between faith/tradition and the time his lives in. “A Serious Man” is not a hilaric film as the Coens can make them, it is more of a drama with subtle humour. The film seems to portray a few parts of different stories that suddenly end. “A Serious Man” is a nice film, but in my opinion, not one of the better Coens.

Jake is a young man who lives in New York and makes his living as a designer. In the summer he goes to his parents to help them with their trailer park, conduct local politics and organise a music and arts festival. When the permit for a festival in a neighbouring village is withdrawn, Jake figures that he might be able to make some money for his parents when he puts that festival under his own flag. He does not realise the scale of that “Woodstock festival”, not even when an old schoolmate (the organiser) comes flying in with a helicopter. Soon it becomes clear that this will not be a festival for 5.000 people like Jake expected.
“Taking Woodstock” shows the amount of money that went around in the festival, the slyness and professionalism of the organisers, but mostly the impact on the small town when half a million hippies start to gather in and around the festival area. Almost nothing about the music, nor of the festival itself, but all about the direct surroundings with Jake’s parents realising the goldmine, the neighbours forseeing the problems and weird characters trying to help Jake or themselves. “Taking Woodstock” is a very amusing film with a different look on the most famous chapter of music history.

“The Last Days Of Emma Blank” is a Dutch film and I am happy to be able to say that it is not a bad one too! Emma Blank suffers some kind of disease and she is about to die. For her last weeks she retreats into a large mansion somewhere along the Dutch coast with a stack of servants who have to obey her every demand. As the film develops the relation between all characters slowly becomes clear. “De Laatste Dagen…” is finally a Dutch film without disfunctional nudity or foul language/characters, but with a beautiful young woman and functional weird characters. In fact, the realistic but absurdistic characters and humour reminds of Scandinavian films such as “Festen” or “Mifines Sidste Sang”. The developing characters are suddenly turned 180% after a ‘revelation’, which adds loads of extra sauce to the story. “Emma Blank waits for her death. So do her servants.” Well done!

Jensen is connected to almost any Danish film production as a writer. He himself made only a few films so far and “The Green Butchers” is one of them. This film is a bit of a lighter version of the masterpiece “Delicatessen“. The latter is funnier, but also a lot darker. “The Green Butchers” is a quite typical Danish comedy with an absurdistic ‘realistic’ story. Two weird characters open a butchery accidentally finding a product that people line up for. Not great, but not a boring watch either.

This highly acclaimed Dutch film is about politics. A dangerous subject, because it is too easy to (seemingly) take sides. “Vox Populi” (“the voice of the people”) is a sharp view on the Dutch politics of today. A populist rightwing makes a high flight in the polls and we follow a “red/green” politician whose party makes a drop. When he comes in contact with a real Amsterdam family who says exactly what they think, the politician starts to copy harsch statements about Muslims, pocket-filling politicians, etc. much to the dislike of his fellow party members, but all the fuss does raise the party in the polls. “Vox Populi” is a real Dutch film with nudity, sex and strong language, but also with a nice magnifying glass on politics, society and the gap between these two. All comes with nice typical characters, recognisable political parties (with bogus names of course) and a critical look on the role of the media. A wide variety of subjects pass the revue, but Terstall managed to make an easy-to-watch film which is amusing and recognisable for a Dutchman and probably also amusing (or even interesting) to foreigners who are interested in the ways of the rise of the populist right in our country. Political satire, not a genre that comes from the Netherlands frequently, but this surely is a nice one.

Since Clooney exposes a Coen kind of humour in his own films too, I keep following the man even when he makes some sort of “romcom”. However the film is not as brilliant as the title, “Leatherheads” is an amusing film with nice humour and a weird story playing in times past. Clooney might complain that the Coens always have him play an idiot, but he must like it, since he does the same in his own films. “Leatherheads” is for people in a silly mood, also for lovers of “romcoms”, but this might even be a “romcom” for men, since it is all about sport (football).

Hm, in a very normal DVD rental I picked out a box shouting: “one of the best horror-comedies” and something about a well written film. It could be me, but I see nothing more than a standard teenage zombie horror slasher with some gory humour. A few nice scenes and funny jokes, but a very standard film overall.

Apparently I have not seen half of the films of Guy Ritchie, but I do know that “RocknRolla” is of the same breed as “Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch”: a flashy crime comedy. “RocknRolla” is very typical for this kind of film. A maffioso-like rapid montaged intro, hip small crooks unknowingly dealing with the big guys, action and a lot of humour. There is nothing new about “RocknRolla”, even the story is almost the same as of “Lock Stock…”. Fortunately Ritchie has mixed the standard ingredients well and “RocknRolla” became an entertaining film.

Yesterday I was at the lookal arthouse DVD rental and had a peek at the Coen shelf. There are some titles that I saw before I started making film reviews, but there are also some titles that I have not seen yet. So… a comedy or a crime? “Miller’s Crossing” is the brothers Coen third film, a crime like the earlier “Blood Simple” (1984). A nice 50′ies setting with a story about competing maffia groups, making a real Coen-film with violent outbursts and dark humour. Great acting, great stages/surroundings and a story that turns and twists like a small creek through the forest. Should you have missed it until now too: watch it.