Verbeek Reviews

The Dress (1996)

Black comedy about a dress and the woman who wears that dress

[9/10 · 5 April 1999]

The director Alex van Warmerdam is known in Holland for his film "Abel", a comedy about a man who refused to grow up and who still lives with his parents, at the age of 26. The film, "De jurk" (the dress) also starts out like a comedy, but the longer you watch, the less you feel the need to laugh. The lives of unrelated people touch because of the dress and totally unrelated events suddenly fit into the story because of the dress. I could not discover a message in the film, probably because there is none. I found the film very entertaining, but was surprised that it turned out rather black and grim.

Voyeur (I) (1986)

A fun comedy, with interesting characters and an original plot.

[9/10 · 5 April 1999]

Abel is a little bit absurdistic, strange and unreal. But other parts a very recognizable. The film smells like Fellini and sounds like Monty Python, but it is a very dutch product. You won't see any tulips or windmills, but when you have a dutch background you will understand most of the jokes and events. I suggest you just sit back and enjoy it. The story is amusing and the development of the characters is interesting untill the end. The art-direction, the whole atmosphere of the movie is very nice and also reminds me of Fellini. A Dutch classic.

Payback (I) (1999)

Despite the hardcore violence, amusing and entertaining.

[7/10 · 24 March 1999]

The story of Porter (Gibson) is simple. He almost gets, but he comes back to take revenge.

Gibson plays a bad guy, but the audience can understand his violent actions. At some points in the movie you can compare Gibson with Philip Marlowe or other private eyes, but remember he is on the wrong side of the law. Gibson's opponents are portrayed as extreme stereotypes, which adds some humor to this grim film. I enjoyed Payback, which demonstrates that I've gotten used to extreme violence in movies. But I wouldn't recommend it to kids under 16 yrs.