1. THE STORY
Two people meet on the train. Not as romantic as in 'Before Sunrise', though the director tries to be.
Sulayman is an immigrant who he shares his trauma with Els, who talks about her own trauma. The story consists most of all of the dialogue on the train:
'What music do you listen to?'
'I'm watching a film.' This must be a lie, she hasn't looked at her phone's screen since the beginning of the video.
'It's the Lion King.'
And after this quote, a lot of blabla about lions and the weight of the past. I must have yawned a couple of times because it felt as cliche as a motherf. disney ending. (Quote: Balthazar)
Why did I start to fall asleep? The whole conversation is not very realistic. Sulayman sounds like he learned Dutch by collecting aphorisms from 'The Bond Without Name', a Belgian collection of philosophical sayings:
a) 'It's like having a mom and a dad. You need the two, but when which?'
b) 'If you give difficult enough time, difficult becomes easy.' (Here he's looking to the camera with a grin on his face, proud because he learned this one by heart)
c) 'Seeing a lion on the screen is good, seeing one in real life is better.'
d) 'As a lion in the zoo: he can move, but he's not free.'
I can't handle this pseudophilosopher anymore! It's like alcohol, don't overdo: having too much of it makes you end up throwing up in the ditch.
2. HIS WEIRD LEVEL OF DUTCH
Strange that Sulayman's fluency and grammar aren't on the same level: he doesn't have to think about words, but he doubts an awful lot about his tense use: present or past simple? I think this is to avoid hindrance for the speed of the narrative.
But would the dialogue need so many words to show an emotional first meeting on a train? An immigrant may be shy and stammer and stumble, he shouldn't sound like he's trying to speak Dutch fluently with some minor pronunciation issues and lots of major grammar mistakes.
Isn't this strange?
Sulayman knows the comparative of good, so he doesn't say 'gooder' but 'better'.
But he does say: 'When I... am fourteen': he stops to think about the correct tense and still uses the verb 'to be' in the past simple and not in the present? Awfully strange that his structures and vocabulary are fluent, it's as if he deliberately chooses the wrong tenses.
I'm sorry, inconsistencies just put me off.
3. OVERALL VIEW
Overall, I find this short film a cliche view on the first encounter between two/too nice people, clearly hitting right for the feels. Not real enough to really strike me. You may have another opinion, but I would rather see a short film on primetime on Belgium's most popular TV channel, made by someone who isn't on TV 366 days in a year (on travel programmes, talkshows as a judge on So you think you can dance,...) Call me jealous, I just don't think it's fair. Why? Because it's the director's first try at directing, and you're already giving him spotlights.
At least make him enter a competition first so everyone gets the same chances like him, the director of this film. Instead of showing this short, make a competition for Short films, open to primarily students, and view the best one on TV Channel één, instead of choosing a famous Belgian (because he will get you views - remember he's a famous choreographer and writer, not a director). When you make a competition, as a consequence the winning film will have an endearing and interesting plot. Then maybe the director of this film will realise he might not have made the perfect film, instead of overencouraging him.
Not that I really detested this short, I could stand watching it, it's just too much of a 'let's have a quick emotional rollercoaster before we brush our teeth and say nightnight'. The actors play quite well, it's just all a bit too pretty and overdone. The sun is setting, Els smiles as if she sees her lost son coming home from the war and Sulayman laughs like the ideal and shy immigrant, to make sure you, the viewer, start feeling things. Am I cold if I don't?
