Loft

I had to watch this film with subtitles as I'm not fluent in Dutch. I haven't seen the original version but after seeing this I intend to watch it to see how it compares.

I spent the entire film trying to guess who dunnit with my mind changing at every turn but never able to see the twist at the end. Yet on top of that twist there was another! I couldn't believe how well written it was. There were certain scenes that were filmed beautifully, there's a flashback scene of Mat where the camera does a 360 degree turn around him. You have to see it to truly appreciate it.

Overall it's definitely worth a watch, subtitles or no subtitles, a good film makes it easy to forget them. The characters are easy to pick up, yet complex enough to keep a good narrative going. You'll cringe, you'll laugh and you'll be hanging on the edge of your seat to find out who the murderer is.

I saw this movie on the film 1 channel for free. I'm not a fan of dutch movies and I would never spend money to see those movies. why? Because in all the Dutch movies I've seen the acting is really bad. Loft is no exception. Barry Atsma is alright and the two Marrocan looking actors were also pretty good. But seeing Jeroen van Koningsbrugge being interrogated by the police was cringe-worthy. This movie also tries to copy stuff from Hollywood movies. the actors talk in a way Dutch people don't normally do. (calling people by their family name for example)Somehow you will watch this movie and not really care about the characters because you'll keep looking at them as actors and not "real" people. The storyline of the movie isn't bad and despite the bad acting I kept watching. If you do like this movie I recommend watching "Very Bad Things" from 1998. The story is somewhat similar but funny.

I keep wondering if it is every man's dream to have a wife and then mistress(es). If they do, don't they keep it as a secret, even to their friends? Why would they share an apartment for their mistresses and conquests? Logistically it seems very difficult to implement.

Anyways, it is this intriguing thought that attracts me into this movie: we have five handsome and successful men and their wives, plus two mistresses and another young woman who is the sister of one of the five men. Then the police. There are simply too many characters to cram into a 108-minute drama, not to mention the different twists in plots.

It is no doubt an interesting suspense story, but the sheer number of characters seems to weaken the character development of the five friends, let alone their relationships with their wives and the friendship among them. There were many other elements the playwright could have explored instead of focusing on the twist of the actual murder. Sometimes I even think the interrogation scenes could have been cut.

A typical suspense movie, it does make us keep suspecting everyone to be the murderer, including the other mistress. Really miss Hitchcock! Ironically both the mistresses look more attractive than the five wives! I wonder if the director did it on purpose…

I would love to see the original Loft made in Belgium (in Dutch) in 2008 and look forward to the Hollywood remake (in English) to be released in 2013.