Borgman

I think it's better than parasite though. And more dark and twisted for sure.

One of the best films of the Philadelphia Film Festival, Borgman is a hilarious, darkly satirical, mysterious, sexy, fascinating, and surreal allegory for social upheaval.

In the beginning, there was armed men looking to kill underground hobos. We will never find out why they want to kill them or why the hobos are underground (or why the hobos have nice cellphones). One of them, Camiel Borgman, escapes and warns his friends. He washes himself at a gas station and begins wandering down an extremely affluent street with the intention of getting a proper bath in one of them, simply by asking at the front door. One house in particular strikes his fancy, and he begins a slow process of worming his way into the household and the lives of everyone who lives there.

But that's when things get REALLY strange.

This film is destined for hopefully a good deal of international attention in the art-house circuit due to its exceptional storytelling, unpredictability and very weird plot.

With the matter-of-fact way it presents absurd goings-on, it reminded me of Dogtooth a little.

Borgman is not a vagabond or a homeless, but the evil, the Antichrist itself. He emerges from under the ground with his followers when the local priest and some helpers try to destroy them. They manage to escape and set out on a journey to capture new souls. Borgman is not interested in money or wealth, not interested in seducing women or hurting children. He could get it all if only he wanted to. His only interest is to bring out the evil residing in all humans - men, women, children. He manipulates, sedates or kills people when it is necessary, but it is not a goal, just a tool for him. When he finds a potential follower, he marks him or her with a stigma on their backs. He does a perfect job with an upper-class family turning the family members, the babysitter and her boyfriend against each other, uncovering their worst thoughts and desires. Borgman ends up by capturing new followers, and abandons the beautiful house by cleaning up any traces of his terrible deeds. The movie is surrealistic, full of symbols related to the Bible, and lightened up with lots of spooky humor. It does have a clear plot and a full ending, and undoubtedly makes one wonder about his/her own inner dark side.

Weird and unnerving are a couple words which accurately describe the experience that is watching this film. What the film means is anyone's guess, and nothing is really spelled out or explained. This actually is a good thing, though, because the viewer can take away from it what they want. The story is about a vagrant named Borgman who insinuates himself into this affluent family's home and slowly makes life a living hell for them. The overall tone of the film is one of unease, mystery and black humor, peppered with a shock every now and then. There are several scenes which may stick with you long after finishing it, and there are a few that are still with me now. Comparing this to anything else is futile, except that if you like weird, disturbing movies (like I do), then you will probably love this. From a quality standpoint, everything is well-shot and all of the actors, including the children, give good performances as far as I can tell (Dutch isn't a language I speak). The tone of the film is also set very well by the score, which is off-kilter and dissonant. Since it is best to go into this film with as little information as possible, I'll end here. Suffice it to say, if you're brave enough to give this a try, you might end up liking it as I did.

Don't expect the movie to answer many (or any?) of your questions. There is a beginning that is not explained at all, which introduces us to our lead. We don't know him yet, so we have no idea what he's up to, why those people were "looking" for him. We might get it during the course of the movie, though still not entirely.

The acting is superb, even when you shake you head not getting why people would behave like that (there are a couple of deleted scenes, one that "explains" why the Nanny did something or reacted in a strange way after an encounter). It's strange to say the least, but that's intended. The world we dive into looks like the one we live in, but it isn't really. Still the horror feels real. Even if you don't see many things happening (explicitely), you will be confused by a lot of things. You'll either like that or loathe it. Which was exactly what the movie (maker) was aiming for ... Job well done then