Interview

Dutch film director Theo Van Gogh has always made it a point to shock his audiences.All of his films have been successful in that respect. Interview is a film which has its own elements of shock value.At the core of this film are a famous actress and a not so unknown journalist who knows the art of manipulating things.The good thing about them is that they are elementary symbols of arts and its relevance in our contemporary society.This is something which must be construed as this film's redeeming aspect.There is enough shock for audience as in Interview what starts as a slick television exercise slowly gets degenerated into an artistic huis clos where human emotions are challenged in order to play a game of winner or loser.This game is nicely fought as it signifies the victory of a common man over an influential person.Interview is a film which will surely influence many people either a young student film maker who might like to copy its low budget style.This is because the entire film takes place in a single room.Whenever a European film becomes a hit,Hollywood makes its usual attempts to copy.This film has also been made by Steve Buscemi. It is for the audience to decide which is the better version.

Political columnist and former war correspondent Pierre Peters (Pierre Bokma) is frustrated to be interviewing movie star Katja (real-life Dutch star Katja Schuurman) in an puff piece for the entertainment section. Her most notable assets are the two up front. She notices his attitude right away. They get personal as both bring out dark secrets from each other.

This is essentially a two person play. Sometimes their interactions feel fascinating but other times, it feels repetitive. Somehow they need breaks and gear changes. Maybe she should start as a sweet helpful character and he could fake caring about the article. Their fake cordial interactions can break down leading some explosive revelations. This has some moments and an interesting overall idea.

At first, I was not interested in this movie. Mainly because I don't particularly like Van Gogh and Katja Schuurmans. His movies were 'too arty farty' for my taste and I detest his manners (or lack of them). And I regarded Katja as a nice piece of ass who wasn't a real actress. How wrong could I be...

I decided to rent the DVD after reading reviews and I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know if it was the intention of Van Gogh to hold up a mirror in front of people like me, but that's the effect the movie had on me.

The same way I didn't regard Katja as a proper actress, the character of Pierre Bokma didn't take her seriously either. In return, Katja had an attitude towards people (like Bokma) because they don't take her seriously as an actress. In a way, this is reflected in the choice of the cast. Katja is a soapy and Bokma is a classic play actor. I found it quite refreshing to see Katja act very well. Even playing that she played a role (towards Bokma) came out very good. She really has a talent and actually can act. I was both delighted and ashamed of myself that I had judged Katja only because she played in a soap and looks gorgeous... I still don't like movies like Costa! but I'm not the target audience for those kind of movies. Interview is very well written, well played and if you like to see a great little gem of a movie, go see this.

Obviously, you have to judge this for what it is and that's a low budget film. The effort is certainly worthy of praise. Theo van Gogh is a gifted director, Thomas Kist a good DP and the actors do a fine job. The film's problem lies in it's screenplay. Yes, Holman has created self-conscious characters and given them confrontational, brutally honest lines that certainly exceed the quality of dialogue in the average Dutch production, but I didn't find the characters psychologically valid, especially Katja's. They never struck me as real people. Holman doesn't display a true understanding of the human psyche, which is unfortunate for a psychological thriller. Therefore, it could have been better.

For a film with so little action, and so few people, it has a tremendous dialogue and great drama between Pierre and Katja - sometimes a little overdone, but generally the tension is so strong you can't take your eyes from it.

As good as it is, it has its flaws too. Sometimes the journalist really slips off his professional stance which he now and then tries to uphold. I think a real journalist would not do that - as all pros, journalists tend to keep professional, even when doing a job they don't like, or even more so in an unpopular work situation. As a pro and seasoned vet, Pierre should have kept to his professional attitude more.

Likewise, the dialogue goes off the map and then takes its time to get back on track. This is in a way a little tiresome, but also quite intriguing and one of the reasons the film came out so good. A beauty mark so to speak.

This was my first van Gogh film, and I'll be sure to see more of him whenever I can.