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ThureLindhardt
Sending the viewer home, carrying a scene with them for weeks, months or years: that's cinema. Selling tickets has nothing to do with that, though reaching the right audience is equally important.
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Klem (2018)
The thing for you if you like 'Thuis' or 'De Dertigers'
1. THE STORY
Two people meet on the train. Not as romantic as in 'Before Sunrise', though the director tries to be.
Sulayman is an immigrant who he shares his trauma with Els, who talks about her own trauma. The story consists most of all of the dialogue on the train:
'What music do you listen to?'
'I'm watching a film.' This must be a lie, she hasn't looked at her phone's screen since the beginning of the video.
'It's the Lion King.'
And after this quote, a lot of blabla about lions and the weight of the past. I must have yawned a couple of times because it felt as cliche as a motherf. disney ending. (Quote: Balthazar)
Why did I start to fall asleep? The whole conversation is not very realistic. Sulayman sounds like he learned Dutch by collecting aphorisms from 'The Bond Without Name', a Belgian collection of philosophical sayings:
a) 'It's like having a mom and a dad. You need the two, but when which?'
b) 'If you give difficult enough time, difficult becomes easy.' (Here he's looking to the camera with a grin on his face, proud because he learned this one by heart)
c) 'Seeing a lion on the screen is good, seeing one in real life is better.'
d) 'As a lion in the zoo: he can move, but he's not free.'
I can't handle this pseudophilosopher anymore! It's like alcohol, don't overdo: having too much of it makes you end up throwing up in the ditch.
2. HIS WEIRD LEVEL OF DUTCH
Strange that Sulayman's fluency and grammar aren't on the same level: he doesn't have to think about words, but he doubts an awful lot about his tense use: present or past simple? I think this is to avoid hindrance for the speed of the narrative.
But would the dialogue need so many words to show an emotional first meeting on a train? An immigrant may be shy and stammer and stumble, he shouldn't sound like he's trying to speak Dutch fluently with some minor pronunciation issues and lots of major grammar mistakes.
Isn't this strange?
Sulayman knows the comparative of good, so he doesn't say 'gooder' but 'better'.
But he does say: 'When I... am fourteen': he stops to think about the correct tense and still uses the verb 'to be' in the past simple and not in the present? Awfully strange that his structures and vocabulary are fluent, it's as if he deliberately chooses the wrong tenses.
I'm sorry, inconsistencies just put me off.
3. OVERALL VIEW
Overall, I find this short film a cliche view on the first encounter between two/too nice people, clearly hitting right for the feels. Not real enough to really strike me. You may have another opinion, but I would rather see a short film on primetime on Belgium's most popular TV channel, made by someone who isn't on TV 366 days in a year (on travel programmes, talkshows as a judge on So you think you can dance,...) Call me jealous, I just don't think it's fair. Why? Because it's the director's first try at directing, and you're already giving him spotlights.
At least make him enter a competition first so everyone gets the same chances like him, the director of this film. Instead of showing this short, make a competition for Short films, open to primarily students, and view the best one on TV Channel één, instead of choosing a famous Belgian (because he will get you views - remember he's a famous choreographer and writer, not a director). When you make a competition, as a consequence the winning film will have an endearing and interesting plot. Then maybe the director of this film will realise he might not have made the perfect film, instead of overencouraging him.
Not that I really detested this short, I could stand watching it, it's just too much of a 'let's have a quick emotional rollercoaster before we brush our teeth and say nightnight'. The actors play quite well, it's just all a bit too pretty and overdone. The sun is setting, Els smiles as if she sees her lost son coming home from the war and Sulayman laughs like the ideal and shy immigrant, to make sure you, the viewer, start feeling things. Am I cold if I don't?
Beoning (2018)
These people will probably not be fans of Burning, but I find it terrific.
I believe people who as kids could not silently work on a puzzle for hours, but who gave up after only completing the edges, probably won't be fond of 'Burning'.
I believe people who always need a recipe, even after having cooked eggs hundreds of times before in their lives, probably won't be fond of 'Burning'.
I believe boys or men who never cry because they genuinely think it's for girls probably won't be fans of 'Burning'. (This is different from having been taught not to cry by elder brothers, like myself)
I believe people who, watching films or reading books, have never empathised with the feelings of someone who leads a completely different life, probably won't be fans of 'Burning'.
I cannot tell you to like it, but I am this (probably sensitive) guy who was really moved by the film. It haunts me, and I'll tell you why.
The way director Lee Chang-Dong made me experience Jongsu's powerlessness is riveting. I could feel his anger and insecurity when poor Jongsu discovered his 'girlfriend' Hae-Mi accompanied by the shining and rich Ben at the airport. Later on, Hae-Mi goes missing and Jongsu does everything in his power to find her. The suspense and mystery really killed me.
I found 'Burning' to be discomforting and haunting. It shows and doesn't tell, which makes you pay attention to little details. Along the way, Chang-Dong gives clues about why Ben is really interested in Hae-Mi (is he really?) I wondered about the tiny bits of phrase or looks on faces that on the first hearing and viewing may seem irrelevant, but from which I experienced an aha-erlebnis while I was biking home from the theatre.
For me personally, this movie is a true ten out of ten. I recommend you not to go to the film by yourself, but to have someone with you to discuss its details. If you want to understand everything, you'll have to think. Even then, your friend will probably have spotted the meaning of something you thought was strange. Lipstick, for example.
If you don't like these kind of films, that's okay. I guess it really is what I like about films, and I hope you will try to see what I saw.
Bang Gang (une histoire d'amour moderne) (2015)
Just think you're 16 and unexperienced, this movie will be a treat.
It's so hard to give an 8 to a movie with an average of 5 and a metascore of 50, but I guess sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling. I'm thinking about 'Bang Gang', the story we would only find in a young adult book that was written in six months time, but after a first view has proven to be a decent study of character and of the consequences of group dynamics. The effects of sex outside relationships are shown, but one may raise the question: Is the idea of this free sex without bonding explicitly rejected? Not really. You simply decide for yourself what moral lesson is to be learned. Because even though everyone ends up with diseases, there is also stress on the fun of experimenting for as long as it lasts. Unlike other movies, in this film the viewer can determine what is right or wrong.
Most of all, it's a movie that shows what many adolescents would like to experience, but are afraid of at the same time. What if you have sex with just 'anyone'? Can you still really show your love to the person you love, who has been faithful to only giving his or her body to an actual soulmate? This movie surely shows what it's like, both in a positive and in a negative way. Watch the movie with a free mind and think of the fantasies you had as a 16 year old. I know that my own shy and slender self would have thought it eye-opening to look into this adventurous world for 90 minutes, without any consequences.