erikweijers

Now I remember why I like attending sneak previews so much. The absence of expectations from the audience. How does a curious movie audience react to the blackest of comedies slash nightmare? When I entered, some 200 people were in the audience. When the movie had ended, some 120 were left. The people who left, did so in the second hour of the movie, after having giggled the first hour. The talent of the filmmaker. I stayed and enjoyed one of the best movie theater experiences ever.

The Soviet Union, 1984. That can be displayed even more horrible than you thought. It all starts out kind of cute: a boy with a Russian disco hairdo, a professor in 'atheism', a captain of the Russian army, an innocent girl. But lemonade glasses of vodka pass through these people. And not everyone is so kind. It results in a fly plague...

It can't get any worse, but it does. And I kept laughing, although without much joy. I witnessed the people leaving around me. And I wanted to shout: Waiter! More Vodka! More! The best black comedy of the year. I even remembered the name after leaving the sneak preview, which is very rare...

Who wouldn't want to unwrap Carice van Houten from her gift costume? She deserves her prince on the white horse because she comes to realize that she should believe in love. I also liked Anneke Blok, who plays a type that is rarely portrayed in Dutch movies: the busy mother who arranges everything and is heading towards a nervous breakdown. The gay couple is portrayed so matter-of-factly - not as some statement - that you are hardly aware that you are watching two men kiss each other on the lips.

The first half hour of the movie is especially funny. The movie then loses some of its momentum, despite the rapid cuts between the story lines. Some of the jokes fall flat and one extra character is hastily introduced. The finale on snowy Santa Claus's birthday makes up for a lot, although I found it a bit too understated to serve as the climax and bold moral statement that this movie deserves.

The multiple-story-line approach is a real balancing act and I applaud the filmmakers for their guts to set the bar so high. Also, I think to make a positive movie about love is in a way more daring than the cynical approach with a lot of cheap nudity, which since long has been the standard in Dutch movie-making.

Judging by the numbers of visitors, the filmmakers have succeeded in making the audience believe in love, at least for a short while..