Filmfetish Friday: The Mill and the Cross, Plan C, 170 Hz

Filmfetish Friday: The Mill and the Cross, Plan C, 170 Hz

Mar 2, 2012 |  by  |  Art, Event
About the author
As a freelance journalist, Anouk (26) usually writes about what other people do or like. In her precious spare time she watches arthouse films. Not a few. A lot, thanks to her trusted Cineville pass. Here she can finally share her film-fetish with the world.

To watch or not to watch? I will tour around Amsterdam’s cinemas and answer this crucial question every Friday. Without mercy, of course. Sucky movies will be slaughtered, cinematographic pearls will be appreciated as such. Or the other way around. After all, good taste is in the eye of the beholder.

The Mill and the Cross

Ever looked at a painting and wanted it to become alive? I’m sure you have. Film maker Lech Majewski made it happen. In The Mill and the Cross a famous painting by Bruegel is the decor for the entire film. In the wide landscape there are hundreds of figures. And Jesus. Also important. Our own Rutger Hauer plays the painter, who tells about the (political) background of his work. There’s not really a plot, but who needs that when you’re looking at a true piece of art.

Watch this film in Cineville’s Rialto.

Plan C

Make a film about a bit of a loser kind of guy and you’ve got my attention. Ruben van der Meer is Ronald, a detective from Amsterdam with a huge gambling debt. He has to pay ten thousand Euros to a Chinese criminal or he’ll do something to his wife and kids. So, Ronald (great name for a character like this, by the way) needs a plan. The plan is simple, yet genius. Ronald, his semi-criminal friend Gerrit (René van ‘t Hof) and Gerrit’s cousin Bram (Ton Kas) will rob a illegal gambling hall. To clear himself ffrom suspicion, Ronald will be one of the gamblers. It all goes a bit different, because Bram appears not to be the guy they hoped for.

Watch this film in Cineville’s Kriterion. Also in Pathe (De Munt and Arena).

170 Hz

Original, a film with deaf protagonists. Director Joost van Ginkel dared to do it and already got rewarded. (He won the ‘publieksprijs’ at the Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht.) The story isn’t that mind blowing, two teenagers in love run away from home together, but it is the way it’s shown that makes is special. Because the teenagers ‘speak’ in sign language, there is more than enough space for dreamy music and other weird sounds. Young actors Gaite Jansen and Michael Muller (Kurt Cobain lookalike!) aren’t deaf, so props to them for learning sign language. Alienating film.

Watch this film in Cineville’s Het Ketelhuis and Studio K.

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