Gangleri - filmreviews » comedy

De Helaasheid Der Dingen * Felix van Groeningen (2009)

Roy — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09:16:33 +0000

The title actually means “the unfortunateness of things”, but the international title of this Flemish film appears to be “The Misfortunates”. We hear the story of Gunther Strobbe as he looks back at his youth, in particular the period in which he with his alcoholic father and his alcoholic brothers lived with Gunther’s grandmother. The lowlife Strobbe family are a manace in their community, save for the owners of pubs. With getting drunk and having fun as virtually the only goal in life, we watch the Strobbes perform their weird contests and drink-given fights. “De Helaasheid Der Dingen” is a very entertaining film that deserves the attention it gets in my country. I do not know how the attention is internationally, but should you be able to watch it, make sure you do.
3.5 out of 5 stars

Micmacs à Tire-Larigot * Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2009)

roy — Mon, 17 May 2010 07:36:51 +0000

Just over a week ago I saw a preview of this film in a New York cinema. Excited by the idea to see a Jeunet on the big screen we now pull a DVD off the rental shelve. So far the happy prospect…
Jeunet created another weird film with absurd characters and situations and great findings, but the setting is more realistic (relatively of course) as in “Delicatessen” or “City Of Lost Children”. An employer of a videostore’s life goes down when he accidentally gets a bullit in his head. With the help of new found friends he decides to take revenge on the owner of the factory of that bullit. If you saw a Jeunet film before, you will understand that this thin plot will be worked out into all kinds of crazy extremes. “Micmacs” is good and funny, but does not reach the level of the previously mentioned masterpieces. Still a much better comedy than the usual Hollywood stuff though and if you like Jeunet’s film, I suggest you just see this one too. Not as sweet as “Amélie”, not as dark as “Delicatessen”, Jeunet somewhere in between.
3.5 out of 5 stars

Direktøren For Det Hele * Lars von Trier (2006)

roy — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:41:05 +0000

I do not really follow Von Trier anymore, but I stumbled upon “The Boss Of It All” and decided to give it a try. It does provide a reason why I do not really follow the man anymore though… “The Boss Of It All” is a very minimalistic ‘office comedy’ with at a few moments Von Trier’s voice-over comments. The last of such comments is something about people expecting too much or too little and I guess I still expected too much. With Von Trier’s typical silly humour we watch an actor who is hired to be the director of a small company that is about to sell out. Of course the situations become more and more absurd, but the film never gets really good.
1.5 out of 5 stars

M.A.N. * Robert Matser (2008)

roy — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:41:40 +0000

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“?
2 out of 5 stars

A Serious Man * Ethan & Joel Coen (2009)

roy — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:14:40 +0000

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.
2.5 out of 5 stars

Taking Woodstock * Ang Lee (2009)

roy — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:17:29 +0000

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.
4 out of 5 stars

De Laatste Dagen Van Emma Blank * Alex van Warmerdam (2009)

roy — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:50:14 +0000

“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!
4 out of 5 stars

De Grønne Slagtere * Anders Thomas Jensen (2003)

roy — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:12:37 +0000

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.
2.5 out of 5 stars

Vox Populi * Eddy Terstall (2008)

roy — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:38:27 +0000

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.
3.5 out of 5 stars

Leatherheads * George Clooney (2008)

roy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:02:43 +0000

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).
3 out of 5 stars