Taped

Fortunately the movie is not a found footage movie. DV cam footage shot by our main protagonists is playing a big part of the movie, but it is still a proper movie/thriller. Add it to the "situations you don't want to find yourself in". Still and while you might occasionally shake your head at the characters decisions, this is pretty solid thriller material to watch.

The actors are doing a decent enough job to keep you nervous and anxious throughout. Some might have issues with the "action" scenes and the camera shots involving them, but that's just a style option. While the end might seem a bit ... strange and sort of sudden and kind of "duh", you will be entertained until then.

I saw this movie in the film theater on the big screen.

The movie started out as a normal movie, there was a story line and I wanted to get involved, normally I enjoy watching dutch movies, unfortunately when the action sequences started the moving camera really distracted very much from the story. It seems very common nowadays to use hand-held camera in movies but this movie in my opinion is an example of bad taste and disrespect to the viewers.

Throughout the entire movie I physically felt sick. El Secreto de Sus Ojos (2009) is also a movie in which there are some fast action sequences in a football stadium, but Taped was a movie with almost uninterrupted moving camera footage. Not to be recommended.

Imagine watching an entire movie while muting the sound. Or watching a gorgeous color 3-D movie in black-and-white. That was the experience of watching "Taped." Although subtitling was enabled, all that was translated were the few English phrases. The rest came out as "speaking foreign language." I could see Barry Atsma was acting his heart out but it was lost on me as there was no context provided. If you're still Determined to watch it, do yourself a favor and fast forward, watch the murder, chase, capture and the finale. Without translation, the rest is a waste of time for the English part of the world.

As usual, I was watching this movie at night in bed, waiting to fall asleep. Bad move. Not that there were any scary/horror parts, I simply got caught up in the story so much, I was too pumped-up to sleep.

The entire story encompasses two Dutch tourists in Argentinia. Some parts of the movie are shot with their hand-held cam; the remaining scenes - amongst other things, by necessity - are shot from 'normal' movie cameras; for instance when they get arrested and questioned. It works together nicely.

We start out on a regular vacation, with a couple arguing about their personal life. It may drag on a bit and feels a bit like a filler, but because of this we get a 'personal connection' with the main protagonists, which we wouldn't have had if the movie started out with the real plot immediately.

This 'personal connection', together with the realism created by taping part of the movie with a hand-held, gets even more real with a plot that I could see happening in real life, which is: they accidentally tape a dirty cop committing a murder, and get chased by him and his partners.

You can really feel the pressure and the feeling of helplessness - foreign speaking tourists being chased and having nowhere to turn to, be it cops, airports or hospitals - throughout the movie.

My only issue is the out-of-place and pointless rehashing of some personal issues near the end - if it was to underline the psychological distress, it was redundant - and the nice but 'deus ex machina' ending where some technology is conveniently accessible and compatible. I can't tell any more in order not to spoil the ending, but you'll understand what I mean after the movie.

In all, a recommended reality thriller.

Taped is a Dutch thriller that will appeal to an international audience.The fact that Hollywood will remake this movie is proof of that.And I must say that Taped managed to hook me in to an extent.Even when it does require to overlook some flaws in logic and plot.Especially the behavior of Saar (Susan Visser) was downright annoying sometimes.She managed to bring more trouble on themselves.Not that the husband (Barry Atsma) was cool headed all the time but at least he tried to keep it together for the both of them.In the introduction it is explained why they are there and why they are filming it.We get to see the dynamics between them and it becomes apparent their marriage is in trouble.While understandable it wasn't exactly exiting or interesting to watch.It becomes too much for them and they decide to go home at once.Here is the first flaw that doesn't make sense.It was already late and dark.Would it not have been prudent to at least rest on it and go in the morning. So they are calm enough to travel together but not enough to wait and go at a more convenient time.I know anger but even I would not give in to that impulse.Of course from this moment on everything goes wrong for them.The minute the couple get into trouble the tension never lets up until the ending.The predicament they are in is something everyone can relate to.Which is what makes the flaws so tolerable.Then there are some scenes where the main characters one minute take action and the next remain passive and not follow through.These are moments where you ask yourself how you would act or respond if you were in the same situation.Which is an interesting issue that should be discussed during or preferably after having watched the film.Close to the end there was one scene which is very powerful and to me one I totally could see happening in real life.It's a scene where the wife is hysterical and husband Johan tries to calm her down.His solution is an effective one and shows that both characters care for each other very much.Giving the movie the emotional content for one extra thrilling sequence.Taped is one I can recommend.