gnarwock-42035 Reviews

Mothers' Instinct (2018)

If Hitchcock were Belgium

[9/10 · 27 October 2023]

He could/would be proud of this one.

Ticks so many boxes: Production design 9 Acting performances 9 Plot twist 9 Pace 7 Score 7 Casting 10 What's not to like. Now I've got to get to the required characters of 600 for this review to be valid, but that's an easy peasy lemon squeezy job. This movie sucked me in from minute one and never let go. Sometimes you would think: is the protagonist going nad, or is she the only one thinking straight? All this in a time period where men could still decide about theit wives' wellbeing by just stating they're crazy. This is a director I will follow and hope stands up to (t)his very promising standard.

Sihame (2022)

Dutch but not your typical clay drama

[8/10 · 18 September 2022]

Great acting; great storyline; great special effects - gory, bloody and overall convincing drama set in The Hague, for a welcome change from Amster- or Rotterdam, with an exposing look on and in a (quite European) subculture of immigrants that shows existentialist struggles like everywhere else in the modern world. Some tongue in cheek to... Your sister is a wanted serial killer, I know, but we have to stick to "normal" - so: don't you have any homework? Really ma? Loved the score as well: banlieu hiphop, some French, some Dutch, but it set the mood. Again: not your typical dutch melodrama with characters frustrated because of their calvinistic upbringing but a fresh and modern tale of (maybe misplaced) shame and revenge for internet exposure.

Kin (2021– )

Vicious people vs vicious people

[6/10 · 21 February 2022]

And so they all get what they deserve. As a viewer I can not have any sympathy for anyone. These are all criminals fighting their drugwars amongst themselves and every now and then an 'innocent' victim triggers a chain of events and bad choices (especially by the gangsters' love interests) that leaves me, nibbling on my popcorn, thinking: who's next. Not that I care or give a ****. The actors nonetheless are great, by the way. The main problem is just: there is no protagonist. Let bad guys kill bad guys - who cares.

Midsommar (2019)

Well it's Europe.

[10/10 · 30 December 2021]

Pardon me for any generalization I may use. Many people around the world may think Europe is something like the USA where at least everybody speaks kinda the same language, but no: it has only (really) been recently formed from a weird kind of clay - and therefore houses many weird traditions that vary from people to people. The point is: strange as it may seem, this specific reality (depicted in the film) is closer to your heritage than you might think and therefore so much the scarier.

Roodkapje: Een Modern Sprookje (2017 TV Movie)

Unbelievable mainly

[6/10 · 23 November 2021]

You don't announce your performance on 'The Voice' on the radio (these are blind auditions). Fake 'Amsterdam' accents come and go and are over the top. Beau is way too old to play a twenty year old - and so on and so on. Unbelievable.

This all said, still an entertaining flick, above average (for dutch standards).