Schatten der Vergangenheit

A novel based Dutch movie about a single mother, Iris, a lawyer whose son 8- years-old Aron is a partially autistic. A very good Dutch thriller with decently maintained suspense till the end. I can say a movie very similar mode of concept to 'What Lies Beneath', but not a horror. About the family secret that was kept hidden for years is about to come into the lights after Iris fights for it. And reforms the role of the movie characters alongside racy pace marches towards the twist in a tale.

It all begins when Iris and Aron decides to go and spend the weekend in her mother's house. Accidentally she finds out the existing of something that is close to her. She decides to follow all the clues, but what she gets is unbelievable truth. That's not the end, but seeks the accurate explanation for that which drags her into the series of life-threatening scenarios. Can it be exposed and who are all going to affect by this is told in an exhilarating manner.

''King Kong, Hannibal, Maria, Peanut, Frangois, Chili, Saturn, Raisin, Margie''

What may go to happen is what everyone thinks about once the story of puzzle takes its part. As a mystery theme it kept those elements subsequently introducing limited characters that come in now and then to warn the main character as well to enthrall the viewers. I figured it out so early one of the two twists and expect most of people with experience in watching mystery movies will do the same. That is not a let down because the rest of the story creates enough grip to hold firmly on the audience interest.

I usually see plenty of movies about autistic father and a 8 year old daughter or son in Korean movies. That is so frequent if you are familiar with them movies. In fact, I expected similar style of storytelling from this, but what I got was so much fresh and fascinating narration with cool screenplay. Feels like reading a novel except it comes with motion pictures. I have not seen tons of Dutch movie in my life, but a few in that it is one of the best for sure. I believe you should try this before in case Hollywood grab for a remake rights.

It's about when love turns evil. An attorney inadvertently finds out she has an autistic brother. Her mother has kept him under wraps for decades. He's serving time for murder. When she visits him she decides he's innocent. After some investigation into the matter she decides to spring him. She talks her boss at the law firm into taking the pro bono case and she's off! It's got some cliches that get a little tired, like everybody telling her to not investigate the matter any further, to what end people? Some of them, yes, they are heavily invested but only about half the people who try to thwart her investigation are. Other than that it's a great story using the device that the inmate can't speak for himself.

This is a TV-level or TV-like "drama in family" movie about Iris Boelens, a young single mother and lawyer, contending with an autistic child and the discovery that she has a brother who is locked up for a double murder --and who has autism also. Not much action (violence) or action related suspense in this movie. It is mainly psychological drama and suspense (thriller, I guess) that originates from this lawyer's dogged search for the truth about her brother and family and the people who want to stop her when she decides to investigate his crime and get him new representation.

Whether or not you warm to this movie depends on whether or not you care about the central character in it and/or the subject matter. Therefore, whether or not you are sympathetic to Iris Boelens and the problems and mystery of her family. Iris is a busy woman, juggling a demanding job and problem child who has been suspended from school. Her mother has a cool, no-nonsense facade but one has a sense that deep down she perhaps cares. She is taciturn; doesn't want to give Iris any info about her newly discovered brother. This leaves Iris no choice but to turn to her trusty computer and perhaps the Dutch version of Google. The movie grows on you if you're patient and has an interesting ending that actually made me say "Sh!t, I didn't see that coming". Love, Boloxxxi.

I must admit: Being north of 60, I've become jaded to the plethora of mediocre films that had been released over the past 20 or 30 years. They all seem to be cheap rehashes of prior films, created to make a quick buck from the continuously endless parade of streaming sites that be.

Daglicht (Daylight) took me by surprise because I wasn't expecting anything other than a run-of-the-mill Nordic noir. Perhaps I'm biased because I'm also autistic like a few of the characters in Daylight, but special mention should be made that the filmmakers did portray autism fairly accurately.

Also, I was surprised by the strong relation this film had to Rain Man. You can almost call this a Danish Rain Man given its similarities.

Like a lot of Scandinavian noir, the atmosphere was perfect as well as the pacing, music and direction. Was some of the acting a bit over the top? Maybe. Hollywood is also guilty of making sure you can tell someone is autistic from a mile away. Nevertheless, Daylight is worth the two hours spent watching it and I look forward to more films from the creators.

Funny how someone described it as a "TV like" movie (what ever that means). Many European, actually all non-American, films do not rely strongly on aimless action sequences and special effects and zoom in on the story. Therefore they keep a steady pace, convincing real life characters and the story is mainly told through image appose to spoon fed by dialogue. They're less "loud" This story is well thought through, original with twisting plots. Superb acting by the international known cast (yes people there was a time when Monique and Derek were killin' it out there) and throat grabbing drama and suspense. See it if you can.