Duska

I got interested to see this movie because of its reviews, being a Dutch film, heard that it won some awards and the photography was good.

The story is about Bob (Gene Bervoets) a movie journalist – who spends lonely times seeing movies, staying alone opposite a movie theatre, writing on computer, drinking, eating and keeping his house in a mess – just a lazy tired life – hoping for something to happen. He eagerly longs for a girl (Sylvia Hoeks) working in the theatres, who one days ends up in Bob's apartment. Just at that moment there is a knock at the door and an old friend of Bob arrives – Duska (Sergei Makovetsky) from Russia. Bob tries hard to chase of Duska from his apartment and life, but does not succeed. Intercut - there is a flashback in the movie about how Bob met Duska in Russia. One day Duska leaves the house and Bob goes to Russia to search for him, and is left alone on a deserted village with his own fright. At last a bus arrives and Bob jumps in.

The Director Jos Stelling has made a movie after a gap of 4 years. He has his own style of movie making. There are minimal dialogues, but the flow of story goes on well. The movie deals with three characters and their emotions, which are captured perfectly. Jos is a thinking director and leaves lots of things for the audiences to imagine and understand.

I loved the movie because of its style and narrative. It was light and not heavy – like a recent Dutch movie I saw Wolfsbergen directed by Nanouk Leopold, which I found in a similar format and style was not so interesting.

The music was good. Cinematography excellent. Gene Bervoets, Sylvia Hoeks and Sergei Makovetsky have acted very well and remained in tight scripted roles that Director Jos wants them to narrate.

Good movies for people who want to see experimental cinema.

(Stars 6.5 out of 10)

The atmosphere of the movie is formed by long shots of certain slow paced situations which are often a bit strange or slightly absurdistic. These shots are often really beautiful images and are never a chore to watch. I especially like the shots of the street where the main character lives.

The style/atmosphere/humor of the movie reminds me also a bit of the director Alex van Warmerdam.

As far as the story goes, in order to figure out the meaning of it, it is needed to look at the characters as archetypes, rather than regular individuals. I personally want to watch the movie again in order to fully understand the meaning of it all.

This being my first Jos Stelling film, I can say I truly enjoyed it and I am curious to watch more of his work.

As some other reviewers on this site spoke positive about this movie my expectations were positive. I have to confess I found the movie utterly disappointing and terribly boring from the beginning to the end. The male characters were not credible to me, the psychology of the characters was not developed (you never got to know these people), the Russian males were portrayed in an embarrassingly cliché fashion (drunk, silly headgear). The whole film felt very amateur. Although attractive Syvia Hoeks did brighten it up a bit for me, she did not get much chance to show her acting talent (watch her in De Ontmoeting!). I cannot believe that this movie was sent in for a best foreign film award. It won my personal price for worse film I watched ever!

The movie is full of them. If you don't find them you end up with the conclusion: it's just another roasted picture of the USSR (or its legacy) while it's more about european culture than anything else. That extremely annoying character Duska is needed to show Bob's insecurities and inability to withstand the challenges he meets.