Shades of pain

I loved this movie! It was fast paced and full of insight. It's a movie for people who love to analyze story lines and theorize. I definitely recommend it! If you are one of those people that love to watch action packed movies with no meaning behind them, that don't make you think, DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM! IT IS NOT FOR YOU! This movie is strictly for thinkers.....and for those who gave this film bad reviews...what were you watching??? Like I said this is only for thinkers! The writing is incredible and should be noted as much as the directing and the acting should....if it wasn't for those three elements, this movie would never have got my vote as it would never have sustained it's detail. Excellent Film!

In this film of sexual manipulation and head games it quickly becomes clear that Chris, the beautiful hustler on the make is living a life totally out of control. When he first meets wheelchair-bound Glover, he has the upper hand. His physicality and his threats of violence can only take him so far though. As their relationship continues, Glover more and more becomes the one in control.

Many folks reviewing this movie seem to hate it and yet I found the dynamic between the two individuals and their ambiguous sexual orientation was interesting enough to carry the plot along to its eventual conclusion.

That dynamic and the eye candy provided by Antonie Kamerling was certainly enough to keep me interested until the end.

Director Dominique Deruddere is a much more interesting person that this mediocre movie leads you to believe. Other than this "thing", he made some of the greatest Belgian movies ever, like "Wait until Spring Bandini", "Hombres Complicados" and especially "Crazy Love". This latter one can easily compete with prestigious American movies when it comes to drama, cinematography and plot. For "Suite 16", Deruddere had the opportunity to work with a bigger budget and some important names here and I fear that's what caused him to deliver a seemly-unfinished film. Some good dialogues and interesting content can't prevent this film from being a tedious and uninteresting social portrait. The plot introduces a young crook (Antonie Kamerling) on the run for other villains and he ends up in the suite of the wheel-chaired manipulator Glover. At first, Glover appears to be a sad and frustrated impotent guy from whom Chris can easily take advantage of but it's actually the other way around…or something. There are absolutely no exciting moments in this film and the young Dutch actor Kamerling suffers way too much from his ego. The film is stuffed with sex sequences but they're not exactly interesting or meaningful (Glover constantly hires prostitutes to make Chris stay). Suite 16 is very boring and not at all controversial, although it obviously tries to be. I advise you to skip this one and go straight for some of the other film's on Deruddere's repertoire.

Let me say from the outset that Pete Postlethwaite is one of our best character actors and that Charlea Higson is a fine writer of skewed noir thrillers (read 'Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen' if you appreciate grim, black farce). But what the hell went wrong here? A blond g*t who couldn't act his way out of a wet Kleenex, characters who've stepped out of a bad student improvisation project and sex scenes as erotic as Spam that's been left in a warm place for three weeks. I think there's some statement about voyeurism, sexuality and control trying to slip out here, but I'm too dumbfounded by the abject crapness of the entire project to remember. Are we allowed to give minus points?

Orange is a difficult color because it doesn't breath life: it's close to red blood and it's the color for rust, decayed things. Now you have been warned because in this movie, this color is everywhere: on the walls, on the dresses, on the bricks, on the video games. It's even subliminal because the movie stars a Dutch man.

This could have been the sequel of "Costa" because it's the same beginning: young Dutch men coming abroad to sea, sex and sun, leaving away their inhibitions at their homeland.

The problem is that such confused adult meets here a disabled man who turned suicidal. The best they can do is to have sex with women, with men. Imagine that for forty minutes, those two lunatic doesn't leave the suite and while one is with prostitutes, the other watches it!

Well, it's really crap, crippled artistic vision. I don't know what Geraldine Pailhas was looking for here. Sure, disabled people suffer from their state and they must have someone to live, but not this way, thanks!