Adeir

For the portion of Herman Brusselmans's oeuvre I've read, the movie gave me quite the same feelings as his books. Is that a good thing? It is if you like the man's early work. It shares the very cynical humorous comments the protagonist dispenses in reaction to the other character's actions, as well as his patronizing lecturing towards the young attractive females.

None of the characters are even remotely likable. They're antisocial, immoral sometimes even homicidal ugly bastards and bitches. A normal conversation between them is simply impossible, insults and curses galore. At times it can get a bit cartoonesque.

Is it funny? Yes. Well, funny crude. Everything is quite over the top: the nudity, the violence and especially the music, which saves the film for a great deal. The soundtrack is an amalgam of Belgian and international noise rock, with some softer tracks to ease the pace.

I found it 90 minutes well spent, even if it dragged on a bit too long in the end.

Overall, I found it an OK movie, but only if you are willing to follow to the end. Cinema goers with only entertainment on their mind will find it hard to stay focused. Though the story is not that complicated, writer Ward Hulselmans performed kind of the same trick as he did with the series "Stille Waters". Pose the question (what happened to the little girl?), give some clues, turn away to a different problem that has seemingly less to do with the actual plot and bringing it all together in the end. But that's fine, De Bouw and Peeters were terrific and newcomer Neuville shows some great talent. It is a pity though that the southern part of Belgium (Wallonia) has become a foreign and hostile land in the collective Flemish mind. And this film (together with Calvaire) doesn't really improve that image.