Zusje

I saw this Dutch treat courtesy an international film festival, not long before Blair Witch Project broke big. Given that prior to that the most ground-shaking found-footage movie, arguably, was Man Bites Dog, also from Europe, consider this makes an interesting, more sedate companion.

Ominous, lens-eye-view drama takes place almost entirely through the viewfinder of a video-camera owned by the mostly unseen Martyn, who drops in unannounced on his pretty fashion-design-student sister Daantje for her 20th birthday, after a long separation. Martyn pathologically films Daantje, her friends and her Kama-Sutra-reading lover Ramon, and tries to make Daantje watch a collection of home movies he's brought with him containing some sort of dread secret.

Such is the climate of sexual obsession (and that she puts up with him at all) it's no surprise at all Martyn and Daantje have a past tainted by sibling incest. As Martyn craftily drives off Ramon and sabotages Daantje's support circle, the question is whether she'll succumb to her brother's perverted seduction a second time - or, for that matter, whether she's as sick as he is. The trick ending might leave some viewers scratching their heads.

I guess with little stretching this might be put into the class of all those "from hell" thrillers about deranged, overly persistent admirers, of which Fatal Attraction wrote the most imitated template. We've since seen roommates-from-hell, babysitters-from-hell, co-workers-from-hell, ex-wives-from-hell, dating-app-stalkers-from-hell, even old-army-buddies-from-hell. This is the brother-from-hell, and without the continuous-camera-eye gimmick, I promise, it would not have been quite so interesting. The technique also makes the viewer neatly complicit in the voyeurism.

Watch all the way through the closing credits for an epilogue. It won't give you answers, but is sardonic enough.

Kim van Kooten (Daantje) hated for a long time: everybody kept talking to her about that film even though she had starred in other films and had written several screenplays. Well, that's what happens when you play in a film as staggering as 'Zusje' (Little Sister).

Ever since 1996 there have been many films with video or digital cameras, but Zusje manages to keep special. Here the camera is not just a toy, it's a main character (possibly even more the protagonist). The story of a troubled relationship between brother and sister isn't new (and certainly not in a Dutch film), but here the camera forces itself inbetween them as an instrument of Truth. All this gives you a weird feeling watching the movie (you're intruding Daantje's life much more than you want to), but there's a special atmosphere that manages to keep all the viewers watching (even those who saw the film on tv and missed the beginning).

It's difficult to think of a movie that is more "in your face" than Zusje. It's hard not to see Kim van Kooten's talent in this film. It's hard to find a better Dutch film. Robert Jan Westdijk's later attempts at films got less excited reviews, which could remind us of the Orson Welles story. Still, Orson Welles Westdijk ain't and even if Westdijk turns out to be a "one hit wonder", that shouldn't keep you from watching Zusje.

The subjective camera or found footage has been over-used in the last decade, and I was hesitating to see the movie when it started because almost all the movies I've seen in that format from before 2001, are not successful in many different genres for so many reasons: the script, the genre, making it hard to watch because the camera moves too much, etc. However I decided to give it a go and I didn't regret it. In this case they made it work. All the movie you keep on wondering what happened between the characters when they were kids to make them act like that during the movie, and in my opinion, the relationship between the two main ones (brother and sister) is very well handled, with the ups and downs of painful and beautiful memories from childhood. Sometimes you hate a character, and suddenly you jump hating the one you liked better at the beginning, which I find really hard to do and something very well accomplished. The actors (all of them) are great. The movie touches taboo themes though so if you are weak of heart perhaps this is not going to be the best choice for you. Perhaps if I would have seen it when it was first released I would have given it a 9 but of course times change and it is not as actual as I guess it once was. Still, I would recommend it if you are searching for something different.

Here's another proof that the least money new young directors have to create a movie, the more creativity is used to make the best out of it. This brilliant movie -one of the best dutch movies ever- has a highly original way of telling. You are not really looking at a professional movie, but at a director's cut of a bunch of videotapes... You will hardly see the main character...because this guy is the cameraman as well. Have a look at it. It is worth to look at...!

Good debut, but why has Westdijk made a mediocre TV-film, a really bad feature and another TV-film that was embarrassingly bad after this film? This film was good mainly because of the original idea, but it tells very little about the directing skills of Westdijk.