Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Ben Larson This is the second Jan Decleir film I have watched today. It was the Best Foreign Film winner at the 1998 Oscars.The age old story of the hatred between father (Declrir) and son (Fedja van Huêt), a man easy to hate as he was totally without compassion.Katadreuffe, the product of a one-nighter between his father and mother, grows up and makes good, but it is only to spite his father.If watching this film reminds you of a classic novel, it is it's Dickensonion mood, where we are focused on the poverty of the city, and the cruelty by government officials.Beautiful cinematography by Rogier Stoffers and Mike van Diem's direction and screenplay are almost perfect.

jonathanruano Karakter is one of those films that if you don't understand it, you will never learn to appreciate it. Essentially, it is about Jacob Katadreuffe (Fedja van Huet) who was forsaken by his formidable father Dreverhaven (Jan Decleir) when he was only a baby and used his own talents and hard work to attain a higher station in life. But it is about much more than that. It is about real human beings who struggle with themselves and with each other in order to make sense out of their own lives and to find their place in dynamic, puritan universe that is Holland.Dreverhaven hates his son Jacob, because the latter reminds him of the one great sin he committed in his life -- namely, having an affair with a woman who was not his wife. This may seem surprising, because Dreverhaven had a fearsome reputation for physically throwing out tenants who could not pay their rent and taking to court those who defaulted on his loans. Yet, Dreverhaven lived in a puritanical world where making wealth by hard work, discipline and sheer ruthlessness was considered a virtue, while having children out of wedlock was not. Since he succeeded in that world more than most other people, he was changed by it in a more profound way. But Dreverhaven was also capable of changing more positive ways. He develops a respect for Jacob, when his son triumphantly overcomes the challenges he puts before him. Dreverhaven's respect for his son conflicts with his hatred of him and he never seems able to reconcile the two emotional impulses.Then we have Jacob Katadreuffe who knows what grinding poverty feels like, especially when his mother (Tamar van den Dop) decides the time has come for him to move out. As it turns out, his mother was on the right track. Jacob was cleverer than his peers. He learnt the English language simply by reading books he found in his new house. Informed by a friend that the Communists were gaining new members, Jacob observed that unemployment was up as well -- he obviously knew that most people would leave the Communist party once they found jobs that paid the rent and other living expenses. After a business reversal (which taught him how businessmen cheat each other), Jacob Katadreuffer finally begins his meteoric rise to prominence only to come into conflict -- by a strange and unexpected twist of fate -- with his father Dreverhaven.Finally, we have a murder mystery. Dreverhaven was found in the basement of his wear house with a knife lodged in his stomach and his estranged son, Jacob Katadreuffe, was the last person known to have seen him.Over the course of the film, director Max van Diem brilliantly interweaves these three strands together. He is assisted by a very capable group of actors. Jan Decleir is absolutely brilliant as Dreverhaven, who is a special kind of villain, because he has depth, a soul and inspires a certain degree of sympathy. Dreverhaven is probably one of the hardest roles to play, but Jan Decleir pulls it off without a hitch. Fedja van Huet is also impressive as Jacob Katadreuffe, a man so consumed with ambition that he makes no room for any real personal life. Towards the end, one feels he may become the same man his father was. Van den Dop also gives a fine performance as the reserved and quiet mother to Jacob. Finally, Paleis van Boem's riveting score really contributes to the plot and the general atmosphere of the film. These days, it is rare to see a film about real people trying to work out their own internal and external conflicts. They do so without special effects, without explosions and for the most part without violence. This is one of the most interesting and intense films I have seen in recent times and it is tragic that Hollywood does not make more films like this one.

tedg I liked this in spite of itself, and you probably will as well.The story is completely unrewarding, a bleak tale of relationships unmended, unformed.But that gives the creative team an excuse to make a Dutch film after the manner of Dutch painting. The theme of the story is light in darkness and the presentation complies.The handling of light in this project is remarkable. It is not arty or self-conscious. It is in fact hard to notice because it merges so thoroughly with the way the location is photographed. That location is so enchanting you should see this in spite of the unrewarding darkness, the unuseful hopelessness.It is set nearly a hundred years ago in Rotterdam and is able to use a whole strip of waterfront buildings from that era. It is hard to see how they have done what they have because so much of is real location. But the sense of gloom in the story comes from the intrusion of a mean God into the space of lives. And that's how these buildings are photographed.See it for the architecture. Except for a final scene where a man falls down a shaft (which is too silly), this is as good as it gets without a good story.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

eyeseehot Watching this sludgy, portentous tripe was torture. Any relation between these characters and real human beings is purely coincidental. Example: the main character is supposedly in love with a woman who works in the office, though he's been too shy to do anything about it. At the beach with friends, he meets her by chance. She invites him to her cabana, where, shockingly, there's another man, never seen before. She introduces them. Lover boy is so angry he leaves, and then won't speak to her at the office. He never asks about the other man, she never tells him anything, and the other man is never seen again. Later she marries someone else. His mother says, "you let her get away, you're an ass." Best line in the film.The film at least sparked a good discussion afterwards. We came to see that it's a pro-capitalist, or anti-welfare state, allegory. Both the father and the mother, in their ways, torment the son, and in the end we learn it was all done out of love, tough love: to make him tough. Only then can he inherit the money. The father is a monstrously unbending bailiff, charged with defending property rights by repossession and eviction of those deadbeat lower classes. The kid shows grit and ambition by pursuing legal studies and paying off all his debts. One slight softening: he learns, one time, to accept a gift. Otherwise it's straight Ayn Rand: capitalism is tough to keep society tough. Rely on yourself, don't get soft, climb the ladder and pay your debts, and you'll reap your reward.The style is copied from Steven Spielberg. Same kinds of shots, rhythm, shoving the obvious in your face, lack of interest in real character. Standard Hollywood period piece photography: subdued hazy brown-gray-blue. Excuse me, I have to run to the video store to rent an Eric Rohmer.