Snapshots

"Snapshots" is an unsung combination coming-of-age tale and mature love story from Holland which was released directly to video. While it suffers from a certain lack of believability in its key plot points, as well as from not enough depth in character development to tell us how the main characters arrived at where they are, it benefits from an overall air of sweetness and charm that makes it a pleasant way to kill two hours. You could do worse with some of the garbage that did manage to get booked into your local multiplexes.

Burt Reynolds has what is for him quite an offbeat role, that of an aging hippie/hermit holed up in his bookstore in Amsterdam, railing at the failings of the modern world, as well as his own personal failings in life. I'm not a huge fan, but he gives one of his least obnoxious performances of late. Carmen Chaplin makes an auspicious impression as the young woman who enters his world, growing up and discovering life in the process. She is a lovely girl, the granddaughter of Charles Chaplin, with dark features, beautiful light eyes and a lithe body which features prominantly in the plot. Julie Christie, as others have pointed out here, is also cast in an offbeat role, that of Ms. Chaplin's mother, a Moroccan woman. Not the first person who springs to mind for such a part, but she is vibrant and charming here, and gives a nice spark to each scene she is in. I thought she pulled off her accent quite as nicely as Meryl Streep could have as well! The distinguished Indian actor, Saeed Jaffrey, for some reason, is not listed in the IMDB cast credits, but plays Chaplin's father and Christie's ex-husband in a few scenes.

The whole thing makes for a rather quaint and pleasant diversion with a nice flavor of both Amsterdam and Morocco, and leaves a smile on your face at the end.

It's not only an interesting movie because it plays in Amsterdam, it's just a nice lovestory with a pretty good end. It's a bit strange that there is only 1 sentence in the whole movie which is Dutch, but as a Dutch-English co-production that is not very strange.

The daughter tries to find out who she is, in making pictures of herself. As she is a beautiful young lady, the pictures are beautiful as well. She's an artist, as well as the man who she works for. Burt Reynolds is this man, the owner of a bookstore.

Lovely film and I should advise you nothing but this; watch it!

For those that are long time Burt Reynolds fans, this movie is unique. For the first time in many years, Burt was forced to act instead of being a sexy model who could spew lines on cue. Sadly, Burt doesn't portray a aging hippie really well. It isn't the acting that is so bad. it is the writing. Scene changes at the very beginning of the movie confuses, then brush off. It takes until almost the middle of the movie to fully understand what is going on. The underlying story of a young girl finding herself works out eventually. But that too takes forever. All of the actors and actresses do a wonderful job in their parts. Horrible writing kills their acting jobs though. A touching story once you forget about the worthlessness of it all.

Burt reynolds, julie christie, carmen chaplin (charlie chaplin's granddaughter). Larry runs a bookstore in amsterdam, but a businessman is very eager to buy up his shop, as well as the other shops on the street. When he meets a strong willed young lady from america, he reminisces about meeting another young girl here, years ago. Lots of flashbacks, but it's well done, and fortunately, it's easy to tell when we are in those flashsbacks, which not everyone can master. It's a fun tale. Nothing tricky or real new, but it's a pleasant journey. And who doesn't have fun in amsterdam? Directed by rudolf vandenBerg. Has won numerous film fest awards for his films.

Snapshots is a New World meets Old World, young meets old, past meets present love story with a fine use of coincidence, a great flavor of Amsterdam, and some terrific moments by Reynolds and Chaplin.

The flashback scenes of younger love (apparently done by a second crew) are nearly unwatchable...editors might have saved them as quick, patchy dream-like sequences, but let them run in all of their silliness. Without a fast-forward button, they ruin the film. USA scenes are almost as bad with a corny TV flair and evidently no budget for cinema-like setups--the only good thing to say is that they show how much better an actress Chaplin is than the production around her.

Watch it for the Amsterdam parts, which are lovely, well-acted, and even funny.