Schemer

I, being Dutch, really enjoyed this movie. I've saw a lot of Dutch movies who weren't even close to being as good as this one. As I got closer and closer to the end of the movie, it got better and better. The further into the movie I got, the closer I got to finding out what exactly happened. The finale creeped me out. The characters were very realistic and the way the acted and reacted in different scenarios made them very relatable. Even the 'bad' guy was realistic. I could relate really good with the characters, which made the whole story believable. The movie was inspired on the murder of a Dutch girl Maja in 2003. I was pretty young when the murder happened, but knowing what happened than and comparing it to what was happening in the movie made it even more realistic. The movie overall sent chillings down my spine and I recommend everyone to watch it.

Schemer – Dusk – CATCH IT ( B ) Allegedly based upon true story of 15 years old girl "Jessica "killed by her friends in small town of Netherlands. It's a story of jealousy, insecurity and how group leader Caesar magnify the small grievances that each of Jessie's friends bear towards her. Caesar transforms these small grievances into a general and pervasive hatred towards Jessica that leads ultimately to her horrible, senseless killing. Schemer cunningly tells the same events from five different points of views. So the audiences understand how each and every one of Jessica's friends starts hating her out of jealousy, insecurity and envy. This method may show one scene again and again from different angles and point of views but in a movie where we know the murder is been committed it's really important to go into minds these people. Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen ("Caesar" and Yes that's his full Name) excels as a group leader, who convinces everyone to kill Jessica when he realizes that she doesn't want him and like Rico. Gaite Jansen is simply brilliant as Jessica, she is innocent, careless and blunt like teenagers. Roos Netjes, Melody Klaver & Robert de Hoog did a nice job as jealous friends of Jessica. Gerson Oratmangoen as Rico seemed misfit to me. Overall, Schemer is a great attempt from Netherlands as in small budget it's been able to capture the essence of jealousy and envy in natural manner.

Seeing this psychological thriller/drama thriller from the Netherlands made me reflect over my own high school years. There are some scenes that I've recognize and people that I have known or even passed in hallways during my time in high school, had that kind of behaviour displayed in this film.

It is about a group of teenagers that seem like the best of friends on the outside but in reality there is a conflict simmering underneath the surface.

The group consists of alpha male and leader Caesar(Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen) who is taking care of his ailing mother. A tough job for anyone, especially for young teenager. But Caesar has issues, issues he can't talk to anyone about, not even his girlfriend Ilse.

Mick(Robert de Hoog)is Caesars best friend, doing normal male bonding like teaching Caesar how to drive, partying etc. But Mick seems to have a secrets of his own, something he can't talk about to Caesar.

Rico(Gerson Oratmangoen) is the clown and also the womanizer of the group. Even though he has girlfriend Frauk, he hasn't stopped chasing after other women. And with so many girls showing an interest could Frauk trust him?

Frauk(Melody Klaver) is constant jealous and weary over Ricos behaviour. Could one of her best friend be having an affair with Rico?

Jessie(Gaite Jansen) is confident and beautiful, has an uncanny ability to spot peoples flaws. But does she have flaws of herself? She also the one who creates a lot of tension within group. Slowly but surely this will have tragic consequences...

Ilse(Roos Netjes) is Jessies best friend and doesn't know how to deal with Jessies conniving personality, intrigues and lies. But what if Jessie is telling truth?

The acting from this group is superb, as a viewer I felt more like I was watching a documentary about highschool then an dramathriller.

But that makes me a little bit sad too, because some of the stuff said and done in this film has happen in front my eyes. Maybe not with such a tragic ending but I've seen them and I think most people have, no matter where you live.

Granted, I don't speak dutch, nor have ever been in the Netherlands but the script, dialogue feels more realistic then every episode of any US produced teen TV-drama.

So future viewers that liked Mean Creek (2004), Dare mo shiranai/Nobody Knows (2004), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) should definitely watch this underrated and sadly neglected film. It deserves more votes/viewers then it has received here on IMDb.

This movie was partly shot on my high-school, and, having been an extra in it, I was of course looking forward to seeing it. Knowing what the story was about, and prepared for what would probably be a vehement cinema visit, I went to see it with some friends.

If I would have to choose one word to describe this film, it would be Wow. I believe this film is able to take away all the skepticism we see in opinions on Dutch movies. This movie is raw, it is honest, and, like my summary above says, above-board. The killing scene is very shocking, it actually affected me physically; my heart was pounding, I almost couldn't believe what I saw. I've only had that with a couple of movies in my life (including "Black Swan" and I believe "Titanic" as well). Man, this is so good...the acting is wonderful on nearly every point of the movie. Having in mind that we're speaking of actors aged 17-21, I feel a lot of admiration for what they've achieved with this film (especially when I realise I wasn't quite a fan of two of them beforehand). Gaite Jansen again proves herself a big acting talent, and I think we can be very proud of having such a beautiful and gifted girl among our Dutch movie stars.

One might think: if you loved it so much, why not rate it 10? Well, I rarely ever rate 10, and I didn't do it here, because of a few reasons: at a few points, the dialogues were beside the mark. The director and actors specifically said they wanted to show how such "normal" teenagers like those in the movie can perform such a cruel deed, but for me, the dialogues felt uncomfortable at some points...it seemed to be too jerky, though I won't deny that might also be part of the mechanism this movie wants to show its viewers...the scapegoat mechanism, the story of a group of friends which such derails that a horrific crime is performed.

Don't watch this movie if you can't stand shocking images. Like I wrote, this movie is above-board; the killing of Jessie and the liquidating of her body is an 8-minute scene in the movie. Also, the showing of Jessie's inanimate and corrupting body makes one swallow twice. Do watch it if you like good movies, and if you are prepared and willing to let go of your possible sceptical view on Dutch movies. This one's different than quite a lot of the other ones made before.

There's not much to say about this film other than that the best one can do is to stay as far away from it as one possibly can! This film is extremely, utterly boring. Nothing happens. The dialogue is virtually non-existing, unintelligent, uninteresting and forced. The characters are dull and colorless. They are as interesting as a blank sheet of paper. The film revolves around six young mediocrities who apparently are best friends. None of them are particularly intelligent. One will not find a future notionalist among these kids. They spend their days speaking ill and stab each other in the back,figuratively speaking, and manipulating each other. It is quite incomprehensible that the film has been given such high rating! The only logical explanation must be that, in one way or another, the voters are people involved in the making of the film. Do not watch this piece of trash! AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!