Which movie do you recommend this week, Berend Jan?
The most talked-about film as far as I’m concerned is Speak No Evil (★★★☆☆), a Danish film largely set in the Netherlands. We see a somewhat silky and well-behaved Danish couple who befriend a Dutch couple on holiday, played by Fedja van Huêt and Karina Smulders, who also happen to be a couple in real life. The Danish two look a bit up to these hedonists.
‘After a nice holiday together, the Danes are invited by the Dutch couple to come and visit. The Danish couple decide: ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ Well, the movie makes it absolutely clear that bad things are about to happen. This is evident from the music alone, which is rarely ominous.
What the film does very well for a long time is to show in subtle ways that something is not right. The Danish woman, for example, says on holiday that she is a vegetarian, yet she is immediately served a gigantic wild boar in the Netherlands that she really must taste from the Dutch. Uncomfortable, you think as a viewer, that Dutch couple may not be as nice as they seemed on vacation. At the same time, you can also say that the Danes are a bit poser. That social discomfort, in a thriller-like horror setting, is well thought out.
“But then there comes a tipping point towards the end. The Danish director Christian Tafdrup has quite a, how shall I put it, sadistic practices. Happening in Speak No Evil repulsive things of which I – lover of repulsive things – even thought: ouch. In an interview in this newspaper, Tafdrup says that several actors thought it was a great screenplay, until page 70. They simply couldn’t play those later scenes.
‘I understand. I also don’t know why this maker went so far. There will definitely be people walking out of the room. And that’s where Tafdrup lost me a bit, as if he’s going to decide for me what happens instead of sticking with his characters. Yet it is also admirable that he goes so much further than others.’
And then: another gem from Belgian soil.
‘Yes, director Christophe Hermans, who is still unknown to me, has la ruffle (★★★★☆) delivered a strong family drama, about a mother with bipolar disorder and violent temper tantrums, who has three teenage daughters. They have to educate themselves, the eldest daughter is a kind of surrogate mother. The stuffy apartment in Liège where everything takes place can be seen as a pressure cooker, it is only a matter of time before the bomb explodes. And it is played so well. Damn, you think, those Belgians have made another terribly good film. Let’s not call it jealousy, but admiration.’
Whose deed. Finally, which movie do you recommend?
‘warrior (★★★☆☆), a beautiful Dutch youth film. In it we see a boy of about twelve who wants to become a professional football player, like many boys. His dream is shattered after he is hit by a car and ends up in a wheelchair. But then he dreams that street football hero Soufiane Touzani says to him: don’t let that stop you, you can still become a star – a sympathetic starting point. The screenplay was also written by a wheelchair user, Job Tichelman. He conveys nicely and soberly that you don’t have to be a victim.
‘It’s also good that the film is set in a working-class neighborhood in Rotterdam. Dutch films are usually quite Amsterdam-centric, while it is nice to see other places in films. Such a working-class neighborhood feels like a natural place where a rather intense story can take place, without it becoming a decor. It’s just right.’