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 Deep Blue Sea
Super confusing titel. I thought this film was going to be about sharks and LL Cool J. That’s also the reason I didn’t go to the press viewing. I should have been more observant, because this film is about something completely different. Rachel Weisz is Hester, a married woman that starts an sexual affair with a former war pilot. She confuses sex with love, but realizes that when it’s already to late. Too bad for her, there’s no compassion for women like Hester in post-war London. Don’t make the same mistake as I did, go see this subtle drama asap.
Watch this film in Cineville’s Cinecenter and Het Ketelhuis. Also in Pathe (Tuschinski).
Les Adieux à la Reine
How many films can there be made about the French Revolution, and especially about Marie Antoinette? Apparently a lot. Director Benoît Jacquot really tried to give the well known story a different perspective, by choosing the personal reader of the queen (Léa Seydoux, the tough girl from Inglourious Bastards) as leading figure. Jacquot switches between the royals and the plebs to tell his story. Although the film is shot in the real Versailles, the characters don’t really come to life. Diane Kruger, who is Marie Antoinette, isn’t a bad actress. She just doesn’t make an interesting queen in this one.
Watch this film in Cineville’s EYE. Also in Pathe (Tuschinski).
Kauwboy
The Dutch film press is raving about this ‘children’s film that is not for children per se’. According to Het Parool, Kauwboy is the most beautiful Dutch film about a young child since Oorlogswinter (2008). I wasn’t that impressed. Most of all I was annoyed by the kid who plays Jojo, the ten year old Rick Lens. I won’t name all my annoyances in detail. Most important thing: his lips, they’re always wet. Hate that! Other than that, I didn’t care about him nor his father nor his friends nor his life in general. Okay, it is a pretty realistic film with no fake sentimental stuff, but that’s the only point on which I agree with the other critics. (And you’ve understood me correctly, I’m so NOT into this film that I won’t even describe what’s it about.)
Watch this film in Cineville’s EYE and Het Ketelhuis.
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