Dutch cinema

[Inspector Norse]

I've been reading David Winner's Brilliant Orange, a book ostensibly about Dutch football but which freewheelingly discusses the country's politics, architecture, art and so on. There were a couple of passages which described events that sounded right out of some slice-of-life arty Euro film, but that made me realise that I'm not sure I've ever heard of such a thing from the Netherlands. The only Dutch director of any international fame is Verhoeven and a little googling doesn't bring anything much up.

Sure, it's a relatively small country but Belgium, the Nordics, Portugal, Austria, pretty much anywhere in the Eastern Bloc, all have their share of classics. And the Dutch are renowned for the visual arts. So what's going on in the movies? Is there anything worth checking out, any hidden classics? Is it the worst country for cinema relative to general global standing? Maybe Switzerland.

[sevendaughters]

Joris Ivens was very good, but not contemporary. started out as a 20s avant-gardist and then latched onto social realism and became a travelling leftist propagandist.

I've seen films by Jan de Bont and Ate de Jong but we're talking Speed and Drop Dread Fred rather than something about the plight of the Groningen weavers or something.

[Shit Good Nose]

All of Verhoevens' Dutch films are at least worth seeing, and Soldier of Orange particularly is a masterpiece (although try and track down the full mini-series version, if you can't get hold of that make sure you watch the full 2hr 45 version and not the 2hr 15 international cut with a very dodgy English dub), but some of them do tend to stray into el cheapo softcore at times, which kind of ruins the vibe.

After Verhoeven, Wim Verstappen is probably the next best known Dutch director.  A bit of a journeyman, but at his best (doing dramas about human relationships) he was often compared to Fassbinder.  Coincidentally, like Fassbinder, not many of his films are my cup of tea, although Pastorale 1943 is pretty decent.

My favourite Dutch director though, at least in terms of consistency, is Fons Rademakers - The Assault and Max Havelaar are proper gems, and none of his films are outright bad.

Theo van Gogh became famous after he was murdered, but most of his stuff is okay at best, straight-to-vid genre chaff at worst.

You've also got Dick Maas, who is the genre king and hugely popular over there, but all of the films of his that I've seen don't travel too well.

Probably the best known modern Dutch director is Martin Koolhoven.  Started out in light family comedy before shifting to dense drama - Winter In Wartime is fantastic, and his follow up Brimstone (his first English language feature) is also great but completely slipped under the radar.

But there are LOADS of decent Dutch films.  Admittedly there are an awful lot of "one hit wonders" from directors who either did nothing else of note or switched to TV when it all declined in the 80s through lack of investment and interest (which is also why Verhoeven, de Bont and Anton Corbijn upped sticks to the States), but there's plenty to wade through.

[Puce Moment]

Just watched Spoorloos (The Vanishing) from 1988 last night for the first time. A Dutch/French production but it has become quite a classic of the serial killer/thriller genre. It has dated a bit as all 80s cinema tends to, but it does a great job of ramping up tension and its structure is innovative.

[chveik]

the one director I really like is Alex van Warmerdam, especially his films The Northerners and Abel. great black comedies with surrealist elements.

[Sin Agog]

Jos Stelling's got some good shit under his belt, especially his magical realist take on The Flying Dutchman (1995).  It's one of those very muddy and very philosophical period films, with tons of atmosphere.

Kinda know what you mean when you say their country doesn't have much of a filmic identity, though. I seem to recall Holland doing a lot of those Swedish-style clinical thrillers.  All a bit dry for my taste. Last time I was there I was regaled with softcore porn in my hotel room in stark daylight.  Bet there's tons of arty erotic stuff to be found.

[dissolute ocelot]

"The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach is the oldest surviving Dutch film."

[Cuellar]

the one director I really like is Alex van Warmerdam, especially his films The Northerners and Abel. great black comedies with surrealist elements.

Yes, I saw Borgman a few years ago. Certainly stays with you.

Also obligatory mention of staggeringly racist version of Love Actually, Alles is Liefde.



Yes, her from Game of Thrones. And someone blacked up.

[sevendaughters]

Zwart Piet isn't racist /echoing dramatisation of Dutch ex

[Rizla]

Yes, I saw Borgman a few years ago. Certainly stays with you.

Also obligatory mention of staggeringly racist version of Love Actually, Alles is Liefde.



Yes, her from Game of Thrones. And someone blacked up.

Ha ha Alles Is Leifde! This was the most profitable dutch film of all time at one point. I know this cos one of my songs is on the soundtrack and I get about £200 every year from the DVD sales. Never seen it though. (They'll tell you Piet there is black cos he came down the chimney with santa btw. Bollocks. Racist cloggy cunts.)

[Cuellar]

Hah! No way! That's quite...I would say 'cool' but the film is SHITE, sorry.

[Rizla]

Just watched Spoorloos (The Vanishing) from 1988 last night for the first time. A Dutch/French production but it has become quite a classic of the serial killer/thriller genre. It has dated a bit as all 80s cinema tends to, but it does a great job of ramping up tension and its structure is innovative.

It's a cracker, that. Especially if you go in spoiler free. The Hollywood remake, however. What the actual fuck were they thinking. Same director too. Quite staggering.

[Lost Oliver]

Another shout for Borgman. The buckets.

[sevendaughters]

possibly an indictment of Dutch cinema but Peter Greenaway is pretty much a Dutch director now; he lives there and most of his recent work is funded by them.

[Puce Moment]

It's a cracker, that. Especially if you go in spoiler free. The Hollywood remake, however. What the actual fuck were they thinking. Same director too. Quite staggering.

Yeah, I have heard that is one to miss, although I did not know it was the same Director! For years I thought this was an alien abduction film, but someone a few weeks ago corrected me. It is very tense and quite nasty. Loved it!

[Shit Good Nose]

Apparently the ending of The Vanishing is actually the one that was originally written and filmed for Spoorloos, but was changed fairly late on in production to match the ending of the book.  I've only seen this mentioned on its IMDB trivia page and in one other article (possibly Kim Newman's essay for the Criterion DVD) - I don't think I've even read Sluizer commenting on it - so I don't know how true that is.

Ironically, Sluizer's original deal for The Vanishing was that it would end the same way as Spoorloos (and the book), but when there was a bit of a shake-up at Fox that deal was nullified and he was ordered to film a happy ending.  Poor audience previews then meant he had to do away with a similar flashback structure, resulting in a more standard Hollywood thriller.

I've also read reports that suggest Sluizer's English wasn't particularly good at the time, leading to uneven direction (or, rather, interpretations of the direction) of the actors and action.  Anyone who has seen any of Sluizer's other English language films could be forgiven for thinking the same but, actually, if you also watch pretty much any of his other films, you start to think that Spoorloos was a bit of bottled lightning.

[maett]

I watched Amsterdamned back in the late 80s early 90s. A film about a serial killer who swims through the canals doing his business. I can remember being underwhelmed by it. The video cover had an attractive Dutch lass sat in a rubber ring floating in a canal. A picture that seems to no longer exist online. Anyway, I'm not sure why that film got a UK release and seemed so prevalent in video rental shops, probably the cover.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpP7O17ekZI

[Shit Good Nose]

I watched Amsterdamned back in the late 80s early 90s. A film about a serial killer who swims through the canals doing his business. I can remember being underwhelmed by it. The video cover had an attractive Dutch lass sat in a rubber ring floating in a canal. A picture that seems to no longer exist online. Anyway, I'm not sure why that film got a UK release and seemed so prevalent in video rental shops, probably the cover.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpP7O17ekZI

Courtesy of yer man Dick Maas who I mentioned up thread.

[shh]

zed & two noughts