Let me start by saying that I'm one of the biggest Van Warmerdam fans out there. I saw all his films, most of them many times. The reason I love his films so much is that in all their absurdity they are totally believable.
Partially that's due to splendid acting, but also because the strange twists and crazy behaviour makes sense within the movie construct. Let me explain this: take for instance The Last Days Of Emma Blank, where Van Warmerdam plays the dog. Or in The Dress, where an old man pays a hooker, just to get a kiss. This seems absurd, but when you find out why he does that, it makes total sense.
So the movie follows a set of rules, which creates a world that is mad, but logical.
This is the biggest problem that I had with Nr.10.
The movie has only one plot twist, which is a big one. From that point, the leading roles suddenly switch to other people, the scenery changes, the story appears to be a totally different story than you thought, etc. It's more than the level of absurdity that you expect from Van Warmerdam. Which is great!
But there are a lot of elements that remain absurd and unacceptable within this world. To name a few:
-The Germans also start interfering in Marius' life, which doesn't seem to have a reason or any added value. After all, Marius is not one of them. And if their intervention has any effect on Gunther's position, it's negative.
Apart from this, the final scene is a total failure. It insults the Catholic church and doesn't serve any purpose in the story.
My verdict for this film: Van Warmerdam got carried away with all the special effects and forgot to fix a serious number of plotholes.
The multi-dimensional characters, the interesting sub-plots and the great acting all result in a just-adequate rating, but can't save the movie, in my opinion. The plot holes are just too deep.
Partially that's due to splendid acting, but also because the strange twists and crazy behaviour makes sense within the movie construct. Let me explain this: take for instance The Last Days Of Emma Blank, where Van Warmerdam plays the dog. Or in The Dress, where an old man pays a hooker, just to get a kiss. This seems absurd, but when you find out why he does that, it makes total sense.
So the movie follows a set of rules, which creates a world that is mad, but logical.
This is the biggest problem that I had with Nr.10.
The movie has only one plot twist, which is a big one. From that point, the leading roles suddenly switch to other people, the scenery changes, the story appears to be a totally different story than you thought, etc. It's more than the level of absurdity that you expect from Van Warmerdam. Which is great!
But there are a lot of elements that remain absurd and unacceptable within this world. To name a few:
- why is Gunther's daughter Lizzy secretly filming him?
- why doesn't anybody notice Lizzy when she's filming?
- in what way is the fact that Gunther is born in Germany, contributing to the story?
- The Germans in this movie speak German amongst themselves (just like we expect from Germans), but why are the Germans talking English to everyone else?
- The Germans seem to have an interest in Gunther's life. It's unclear why, but I can guess (he's one of "them").
-The Germans also start interfering in Marius' life, which doesn't seem to have a reason or any added value. After all, Marius is not one of them. And if their intervention has any effect on Gunther's position, it's negative.
- Gunther appears to be from Germany originally and now living in Holland. Then where did he get his Flemish accent?
- When Gunther arrives in Germany, it becomes clear that he speaks fluent German (which is not strange for someone who is originally from Germany). Then why does he speak English with some of the Germans?
- Gunther is shown a video recording of his mother. Later, Lizzy discovers that the video probably is fake. Why doesn't anyone do anything with this information?
- Gunther is told that he is the only remaining sould from the original group of twelve. Nevertheless, when their journey begins, we see a larger group of people. Who are they?
Apart from this, the final scene is a total failure. It insults the Catholic church and doesn't serve any purpose in the story.
My verdict for this film: Van Warmerdam got carried away with all the special effects and forgot to fix a serious number of plotholes.
The multi-dimensional characters, the interesting sub-plots and the great acting all result in a just-adequate rating, but can't save the movie, in my opinion. The plot holes are just too deep.