La columnista

Haters are gonna die.

They say, don't read the comments, and sadly, that's true. For every one positive comment, there has to be 10 negative ones written by some poor hack living in its parents' basement. I'm usually good at mocking them, but they do feed off that. I wouldn't want to meet them. Femke Boot would.

Meet The Columnist. Someone hated for her opinions online. Fortunately for her, unlucky for them, they all live within driving distance. And when the title character confronts her 1st hater in person...she gets a taste of it.

I rather liked this affair. It's not perfect and the lead performers (Mom, Boyfriend & Daughter) aren't very convincing, but I was intrigued enough to see where this led.

Worth a watch for anyone who gets hateful comments, but has no other outlet to digest them. HINT: either delete the comments, or laugh at that person...or bot.

***

Final Thoughts: This was in Dutch, but I would LOVE to see an American, independent remake of this. No studio interference and someone in the lead who can play that Serial Mom dual role perfectly. I suggest Laura Linney. I totally can see her losing it on screen while improving as she's becoming the beast she is.

Loved this movie 👍

Helps that Katja Herbers is awesome and sounds even sexier speaking Dutch than she does in English but that's not the only reason to watch this movie.

We all live in a world of 24/7 Social Media with people hiding behind hateful comments and it is fascinating to see her character reach the end of her tether and then just step past.

It's very easy to interact with people you don't know on the internet; and it's very easy to be very mean to people you don't know. But might it also not be easy to take revenge on them? This is the central idea of Dutch comedy-thriller 'The Columnist', which keeps a mostly straight face even as its plot turns farcical. The central character is well-constructed, and there is a serious point about the toxic nature of social media. 'The Columnist' never quite reaches the peak of 'Black Mirror', but it's nicely paced and might just make you think twice about the difference between how you behave online and in real life.

Male a**holes plague writer an columninst Femke. Cybertrolling, insulting, dominating, bullying, hating. Then Femke takes drastic measures. Actress Katja Herbers is great in this movie. With one look she shows us she is taking fateful decisions, maintaining a state of irony all the time. Seemingly innicent scenes get an ominous turn as she confronts her agressors with her being innocent and revengeful at the same time. Great scene settings, and balanced direction. Director Ivo doesn't need nervous camera movements or nervous cutting, actionmovie style, to create Hitchcockian tension. Will the police find out? Check out the scene with the nude guy in the bath. You are a nice guy"? O.k." Splash!!! No country for old men meets First wives club...

Fancy a bit of mindless cyber-bullying/trolling? I wouldn't point that finger too fast, you might just pick the wrong 'victim'. Such as Femke Boot, columnist and would-be novelist with a bout of writer's block and an attack of (cyber) trolls vicious enough to make anyone head for the nearest Wi-Fi-free coldspot before you can say firefox adblocker. Femke, ( perfectly played by Katja Herbers), is not anyone, however, and the ensuing blackly comic madness, while never totally over the top, is always slightly skewed from reality, Stepford Wives-ish, so that the film could -almost- be called whimsical. Plenty of fun.