Iedereen beroemd!

I saw this at the Seattle International Film Festival with subtitles. Anyone that has seen "The Full Monty" will recognize themes here.

1. Industry screws over the worker. 2. Worker hatches wacky scheme to redeem himself and save his family and hopefully make lots of money. 3. Worker recruits hapless former co-worker to help with the wacky scheme.

The new twist is that the father is obsessed with his daughter becoming a singing star. To this end, he kidnaps Belgium's top pop star and as ransom demands that his new song be performed on National TV, preferably with his daughter singing it.

It's a fluffy piece but thoroughly enjoyable. Just like "The Full Monty" you're cheering for everyone in the end.

"Iedereen beroemd" isn't Deruddere's best movie (check out "Crazy love" to see that) but it was nominated for an Oscar and that already is a great historyfact in Belgian moviemaking. Deruddere is the sort of leading new wave directors over here as since decades most Belgian movies are just adaptions from old Belgian novels but with this movie Dominique can claim that he reached the brilliance of Ken Loach... What we get here is laughing with the common people... A simple father (superbly played by Josse De Pauw) believes in his overweighted daughter that one day she will be famous (the girl cant sing and at local contests she tries to imitate Madonna). We all see it's a lost case till Jean (Josse De Pauw) decides to kidnap Belgium's most fave singer...he asks no money but the manager must write a hittune for his daughter... Hilarious at times, unbelievable at others but this is great to see.

In this very subtle satire 'losers' get a glance at stardom. And it's the way director Deruddere portrays them, that they stay authentic and win your sympathy, rather than empathy. Father (De Pauw), your average hard-working factory man, is so obsessed with the singing career of his not so talented daughter (named after Marva, a famous Belgian singing icon) that, after he's been put out of his job, he decides to kidnap a famous Belgian singer to get the attention of her manager. He wants fame, she wants it too, but doesn't know what she's in for. After the kidnapping has taken place a great satire unfolds that stays entertaining till the end, without getting absurd (well just a little). A very enjoyable little film that deserves a bigger audience than it got.

When I saw this movie in avant-première, I had never heard of it before. But it soon swept me away. At first the story develops a bit like a Flemish version of "The Commitments" or "The Full Monty", but soon, the plot thickens. The second half of the movie is a great mix of action, TV-coverage of this action and comments on this coverage that can rival with "Natural Born Killers". When leaving the theater you know that news doesn't happen, it's made by the media and big producers.

All the while, there is still more than enough room for good character-development and humor. And by avoiding situations which are too Belgian or Dutch to be understood by others, the story can be fully enjoyed by everybody, making this a production that isn't dwarfed by big international productions.

This movie reminded me of The Dinner Game crossed with The Castle. On one hand it had the audience laughing at the characters but on the other feeling sorry for them. Any movie that can achieve both of these things with such ease is a very good movie. The story is very well thought out and executed. And last but not least, to top it all off, Melbourne, Australia gets a mention! To quote the MIFF guide "Go see the real deal before Hollywood rips it off."