Snapshots

"Snapshots" is a journeyman B-flick about a middle-aged bookseller in Amsterdam (Reynolds) who meets the daughter (Chaplin) of an old love (Christie), falls in like with her, and then confronts his feelings with a little help from his past. This corny and awkward little flick has too many deficits for this commentary. Suffice it to say that in the grand scheme of cinema, it's crap. However, as a no brainier sentimental watch for the zoning sofa spud, it squeaks by as nominal fluff. Recommended for fans of the players or anyone who can't find anything better among the channels. (C)

Note - the snapshots referred to by the title are really black and white nude studies of Chaplin...the most interesting, artistic, and professionally done thing in the film, IMHO.

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.

Award-winning Dutch filmmaker Rudolf van den Berg almost manages to pull off this unlikely romantic drama, if not against all odds, then at least against quite a few. First of all, Burt Reynolds plays an ageing hippie. Reynolds was probably further from the hippie culture than most Americans his age in the '60s and '70s. Second of all, Julie Christie plays a Moroccan woman. That's borderline preposterous. And on top of that, young Carmen Chaplin (Charlie's granddaughter), who was in her mid-20s here, becomes some sort of love interest for old Burt. Admittedly, he was still handsome and charming. So it's somewhat surprising that it's actually the scenes between these two characters, Larry and Aïsha, which carry the film and give the unlikely plot the necessary weight and warmth. Van den Berg's work is simultaneously sensitive and corny, clever and flawed. I cannot decide whether the film could have been much better, or if it actually turned out as well as it possibly could. But as usual, Reynolds gets ample opportunity to demonstrate his wonderful comedic timing and line delivery.

"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.