Zus & Zo

Even in The Netherlands, Dutch movies hardly ever get the attention and number of viewers as movies from the United States. I don't know what the box office results for 'Zus & zo' finally will be. But it is very likely that the American remake (RCV bought the rights) of this movie will be more successful than the Dutch original.

This is unjust. 'Zus & zo' is a romantic comedy, with a soap like story-line, and is very funny, yet moving - and thus nothing like a soap at all. The timing of the actors - very important for a comedy - is good, as most actors know each other from the same theater company. Every character - both male and female - gets it's share of scepsis by sharp observation of their manners, yet the director managed to prevent over-the-top acting.

'Zus & zo' provides a real life mirror for everyone. Choose your own character to take 'example' from: one of the three jealous sisters in their thirties, not satisfied with their lives, but also not able to change it. Or one of the husbands, one addicted to women, or the other being a doormat suffering under his wife's hospitality for just about every one who needs help. Or the timid gay brother, marrying a woman (!) to inherit his parents summer residence in Portugal. Or the optimist (opportunist?) bride-to-be Bo, much more self-confident than the three sisters and apparently without a weak point.

Or just enjoy this tragi-comic portrait of a slightly derailed family.

this movie is about a gay guy, Nino and his upcoming wedding, consisting of his 3 deranged sisters, his fake fiancée Bo, his ex-boyfriend Felix and a range of oddball characters. the plot centres more on the mess-uped lives of the 3 sisters and Nino himself. what strikes me as senseless, is that Felix, a gay man willing got back to his ex-boyfriend who would be undergoing sex change to become a woman. i am confused, is he gay or not? and why would a gay man want to have sex with a woman? as a straight man, i would never ever want to have sex with my wife or girlfriend after she have changed sex to become a man. is Nino a man or woman? the story plot is very hazy and jumbled up. all in all the characters are made to look like their lives revolve around sex and nothing much else.

This movie once again proves the viability of Dutch cinema. It has wit, pace and some very endearing and convincing characters. It shifts through both serious and lightweighted issues without ever losing balance, whilst maintaining a number of different viewpoints (right vs. wrong, true vs. untrue), and perhaps its highest achievement lies in the way it treats a taboo subject (which I will not reveal here) with daring and care. I was particularly touched by the way the two main themes of family and identity were brought to life. I left the cinema just wanting to see my brother and parents again and see how they were doing. It was that good.

This film is just wonderful. It tells the story of three different women that have lived their lives very differently and whom aren't happy with their present. The marriage of their brother is just the starting point of a bunch of situations, some funny, some sentimental, all very human. For me it isn't a gay story it's a lot more, it's a way to show the reality of how the life can take you by roads you even imagine and turn you into a person you are not, until you realize that you aren't doing what you want. Also it presents the importance of family, even if it isn't the ideal one. I recommend this movie with my eyes closed because for me it doesn't have any flaws. It's characters, the performance of the actors, the way the director tells the story, the script it self and the end are perfect.

"Zus & Zo" is all about three adult sisters who conspire to thwart their gay brother's forthcoming wedding thus preventing him from inheriting a beautiful hotel on the Portuguese coast. Their late patriarch wanted his gay son to go "straight", so he left the hotel to him if he married. However, the bro wants to acquire the hotel with a marriage of convenience so he can sell it to pay for transsexual surgery - something the distaff want to prevent each for their own selfish reasons. This Dutch flick gets busy and stays busy with nonstop prattling about the "this and that" (zus and zo) of the family, the bro, the hotel, and miscellaneous side plots making it a beautifully filmed and wonderfully cast dialogue-intensive subtitlefest for those who don't spekadalanguage. Mildly amusing, sometimes sentimental, occasionally poignant, always enjoyable, and incessantly yappy, "Zus & Zo" is just too much reading for too little payoff. (B-)