Nude Area

An interesting experiment in finding out how long you can make a movie with two people just looking at each other.

The answer is not 1 hour and 20 minutes, that much we've learned.

If you're a fan of looks, however, this movie has got you covered. From stolen glances to lingering stares, this movie has got it all.

Yet the most impressive part, and also the most amusing, was the wide shot of a completely empty Dam Square; they even managed to get rid of the pigeons.

But not the taxis. "Screw your movie, we got money to make, yo."

And still I'm rating this five stars. I sat it out to till end.

And I kinda hate myself for it, because I don't want to be that guy who decides the quality of a movie by the appearance of the actresses.

But... damn.

Imaan Hammam is beautiful to start with, though I pity the person who has to clean her shower drain.

Sammy Boonstra, however... Man, put her in all the movies. Including the ones that have already been made. If I believed in love, I'd be in it right now, and if I knew how simping worked, I'm sure I'd give that a go too.

Sadly, this movie didn't do it for me. I'm not smart enough to keep track of who imagined what and in which order, now am I cultured enough to grasp the symbolism that was undoubtedly in there somewhere.

But damn if it wasn't easy on the eyes.

Was browsing for something to watch when this popped up. The title certainly got my attention. I decided to tune in for a few minutes. It became a bit hypnotic in the way it held my attention. There is NO DIALOG in this movie, yet the long looks exchanged between the young, attractive leads told volumes. Shot on location in Amsterdam, the film is broken in to several chapters which sort of reflect the story arch of the two women first noticing each other on a train, meeting and coming together. There are a couple of locker room scenes, but the nudity is not gratuitous. And while not a true lesbian love story in any traditional sense, there were moments that border on erotic and certainly are sexually charged. This is a talented director and I applaud the attempt at something different. I saw shades of Nicolas Refn and a whiff of David Lynch. Overall, I was surprised how much I liked it. If you can get past the lack of verbal dialog, maybe you can too.

Risk-taking in the sense of attempting to convey storyline and character development without any dialogue, but through expressions and other non-verbal interactions between the 2 leads. I thought it was quite well done, although it does require some thinking and somewhat subjective assessment in some cases to decode the intent, so if that's not your bag when watching a movie then this might not be for you. If you are, then you'll find Nude Area quite rewarding. There's also a theme expressed in the movie around how we can be slave to certain paradigms of attractiveness and beauty and how these can set expectations in a cross-cultural sense. Again, this was very well done.

This movie is available for free on Tubi. The creators of the movie should have paid me to watch it. There is no dialog in the movie. Nothing happens in it. It is mostly the two main characters just staring at things and each other. Seriously.

I'm not the kind of person who only enjoys Michael Bay pics with explosions, shootouts, and car chases. I like a wide range of movies. Perhaps my favorite genre is romance. But this movie never caught me, not even in the slightest bit. I can't even recommend it as a good movie to fall asleep to because the soundtrack is annoying. In one scene the background "music" was nothing more than a single tone that was so ear piercing I had to mute the movie.

The only people giving this movie good ratings are those who have a financial stake in it.

You may know "Room in Rome" which is a very talkative film (apart from starring two women in a single room, being naked most of the time). Which sets it apart from this one, that also has 2 women who are attracted to each other but also contradict that feeling with what some may call despise at times. Others may call it "teasing" which is a sign of affection of sorts.

Whatever you want to call it, the characters/actors are not calling it anything. Because as my summary suggests (if you haven't read about it already), the movie is silent in that regard. And I was almost hesitant to watch this, because the only audio option I had was "German" on the menu of the disc and I knew this wasn't a German production. But as I did start watching it and realizing this would not future any dialog, I could concentrate on the visual aspect of it. Apart from different locations and a few other naked individuals running around, this is capable of telling the (love) story of two persons that seem to be made for each other (no pun intended).

Having said that, this may feel like a bore to quite a few people, especially when the pace is as slow as it is here. Whatever you may think of it, it is beautiful to watch (not exciting or explicit mind you and doesn't need to be)