De Patrick

Patrick finds himself on hand with the task of managing a nudists campsite, after the death of his father, at the same time that his favorite hammer mysteriously disappears. A very interesting dark comedy that explores mourning in a different way. The shock factor with constant nudity is easily overcome in the opening minutes, as we see that nudity as a complement to the characters development, and not from a sexual perspective. Since the campsite is the only location during the film, the good photography work gives us a different perspective on it, without tiring us with the same trees or the same caravan all the time.

"De Patrick" After watching this movie people question "is it a Drama or a Comedy"? Others Question if its about "dealing with the loss of his father" or "Trying to find his hammer", or is the search for the Hammer the way he deals with his fathers death.

What i think? I think that many times it's not about where your coming from or where your going to, but about what the travel brought you. So i think that the director wanted us to struggle with that question to keep us interested and wandering, and he succeeded.

You'll chuckle a few times, guaranteed, but the movie reminds you over and over and over that life is transient and humans are vulnerable - not just when they're naked, old and ugly, but all the time. Still worth seeing for the camera poetry. And the chuckles. And the memento mori, too :)

Belgian director Tim Mielants already has an impressive number of episodes in television series on his record. 'Patrick' is his first feature film for the big screen and it is clear the director's effort to liberate himself off the pattern of the fixed formats and themes specific to television shows. The result is a strange and original film, sprinkled with many signs of directorial talent, but which at left me a bit puzzled about what it desired to convey. Of course, Tim Mielants may just have intended to demonstrate his potential, or it might have been me missing some deep meaning buried in inaccessible metaphors. Or is it some Belgian existential spleen? I suggest that you watch the movie and decide.

'Patrick' (or 'De Patrick' in the original version) is the story of a confrontation with mourning. Or maybe it's the story of a lost hammer. Both variants are equally possible, and some more. The story takes place in a summer vacation resort where the vast majority of guests practice nudism. As a result the viewers are permanently confronted with the images of naked or almost naked bodies, but without any sexual connotation. The visual shock works for about five minutes, after which the nudity becomes as trivial as is probably the custom in such a holiday resort. The hero of the film, Patrick, is the janitor of the resort and the son of the owners. His father dies, a death not too unexpected, because he was seriously ill, but Patrick seems rather affected by the lack of one of the hammers in his tool kit, used to create elegant, beautifully finished wooden chairs, worthy the work of select designers. Is this obsessive search of the hammer a way to deal with grief? Is Patrick affected by any mental condition? Or is he just a simple boy who is incapable of communicating, who has not had the time in his 38 years of life to know the world? Or maybe he is doing the most logical thing of all. After all the father's death is irreversible, but the missing hammer can be found, and then his world order is - to the possible extent - restored. The answer is left to the viewers, I have not been able to reach any conclusion.

Patrick's role is played by Kevin Janssens, an actor who also comes with an extensive television experience. His character is closed on itself, but despite the lack of communication or perhaps because of it, he manages to generate empathy. The rest of the distribution contributes to the creation of a strange, slightly absurd atmosphere. The practice of nudism has as an 'ideological' purpose the elimination of social barriers, but the the more naked the characters are, the more anti-socially they behave. What would have been left of the story if the action had not taken place in a nudism village? The story manages to catch the attention for most of the time, oscillating between social satire with absurd and grotesque nuances, and police mystery with hints of horror. There are many interesting elements in Tim Mielants' film, including some scenes in which the nature of the Ardennes with the sun hardly creeping through the trees of dizzying verticality plays an important role. At least one scene, that of the funerals, has a wonderful cinematic beauty. 'Patrick' announces, I hope, the career of a talented director. I hope that he will also find consistent stakes in the subjects of his upcoming films, in order to harness this potential.

This is an absolute superb debut film with a very original story line, but most of all so well acted with sometimes even kind of unexpected plot twists. The location in itself a true original sensation, although it's a nudist camping that doesn't change a thing at all, it's put in so logically. On a normal camping one would have been able to "hide" the hammer. The main character absolutely steals the show. You see all his subdued emotions and his abnormal obsession with a stolen hammer. Some scenes are so beautifully and surrealistically shot. Without giving anything away: a scene in the forest with almost all camping guests is beyond sublime. An absolute must see. During the end credits we even get to hear a great Alex Harvey song, not sung by himself, alas Highly recommended, but not to those who are used to who only watch formulaic and predictable and sappy movies. Sometimes heroes don't need much action.