Shades

Okidokie.

When Shades was first released, they marketed it like hell, or at least, so I've heard. Final result: high expectations, few adorations.

Time zap. Six years later. 'Shades' is practically forgotten; it seems to have retreated into the shadows of director Van Looy's acclaimed third film 'Alzheimer Case', a major blockbuster.

Thank god for Canvas, more or less the cultural TV station of Flanders, and its great show 'FilmFactory'. Thank god I got the chance to watch 'Shades'. No media attention, no high expectations, just me and a television set.

I loved it. Great acting, good story, good cinematics... A superb film, that hopefully can step out of the Alzheimer-shadows. Until then, enjoy this bashed but excellent cult film. Van Looy is truly one of Flander's finest.

I liked this movie very much. Erik Van Looy is a good director. Proof is his other movie Ad Fundum. Shades is a very special movie. You must be familar with the (Belgian) movie industry to understand most of the story. In my opinion this movie is a biography of the Belgian director/screenplaywriter Guy Lee Thys and guess what ? He's also one of the 3 screenplaywriters of Shades :-) Coincidence or....???? I had alot of fun with this movie because I recognize alot of facts and urban legends about the Belgian Movie industry in it. If you never been 'an insider' in the Belgian Movie industry you'll find this movie a bit boring maybe altrough there're some great actors in it who play very nice like Mike Verdrengh and Gene Bervoets. Mickey Rourke is okay but I saw better movies of him. It's worth a try, but don't expect an easy movie. It's a special movie and that's why some people call it a bad movie, but I do not agree with that. Not the best Belgian movie ever made, but certainly not the worst movie either. That credit goes to 'De leeuw van Vlaanderen' but that's another story.

This is probably the first belgian movie that has the "allure" of a hollywood picture, which was the director's goal after all. You could see it as a mix between "The Player"and"Silence of the lambs". The absolute + on the movie is the fact that it tells a story and laughs with itself at the same time.

the story is about a film crew which is making a movie about a serial killer, and on the set everything goes wrong. The bit of cliché "film in film" is funny , entertaining and sometimes even exciting. In short : well worth seeing !!

The film stars Mickey Rourke as a director on a foreign low-budget flick, that covers the story of a famous serial killer. Things get messy and interesting when the media, co-producers, and the real serial killer want a piece of the action. There is some good acting and the movie has this artificial light which works really well in this kind of movie in movie concept.

At first the film wasn't very interesting to me, but then I noticed the main point of it and changed my mind. Of course, "Shades" isn't a chef-d'ouevre though it's very real, brutal and sad. It shows up the wrong side of Tinseltown as it is, with all its dirt and meanness. This film doesn't give any hopes of real acting talents, sincere feelings and fairness in the movie industry. Everybody wants to use the others in the movie to get to his own intentions, from producer and main actor to the last studio's worker and lawyers. In the end everybody are very glad and satisfied that they could to use the others. One man whom I pity in the film is Freddy Lebecq because he was one honest person and just wanted to live free.

Mickey Rourke was himself as in real life - long hair, mixed clothes, many cigarettes, usual loneliness. and with one of his dogs. He was similar to an old man, clever and so tied, who watches mad world around him and doesn't interfere in nobody's affairs.

"Shades" has many dignities such as good play of actors, realistic plot, honesty, noir humour and many others. If you didn't appreciate this film you understood nothing.