Change Your Image
peterhuppertz
Reviews
Komt een vrouw bij de dokter (2009)
Raises questions that need answering: 8/10 just for that!
Like the book, this movie doesn't allow you to easily identify or sympathise with the main character. You have to admire the book as well as the film for bringing on a main character that you want to kick the sh1t out of every now and again, and still getting the sales that it does.
What the book does, and this carries over nicely to the film, is raise a couple what-if questions that many (read: most of us) would feel uncomfortable to answer. Mainly for that reason, the book got some irate reviews in the Netherlands. Since the movie is fairly true to the book's theme, it is inevitable that the same would happen again.
Barry Atsma does a stellar job in creating a character that most of us would want to kick the crap out for most of the movie. And Carice van Houten is... well, what can I say? If anyone could've done justice to the Carmen character from the book, it's her.
Do see this movie if you're ready to have your prejudices about love (we all have them) challenged. You might end up puzzled, which is a good thing, because it will force you to think.
If rethinking your values is not your Cup Of Tea, then I'd not recommend it.
Lepel (2005)
Bigger-than-life characters; wonderful story.
I concur with what's been said here. A few additions:
Loes, Carice and Max (the three main adult characters) play caricatures rather than personages - and they do this very well. This was to be expected of Loes Luca, whose middle name is "absurd", but seeing how Carice van Houten pulls off painting a non-dimensional character is amazing. She leaves Max, Pell--- um, Lepel, and Pleun, and you - and your children or grandchildren - guessing for almost the entire duration of the film. I knew she could play character roles with many dimensions, but this role of her is an achievement in itself.
Perhaps that's a kids' eye view of adults - at least it makes it easier, even for someone pushing 50, to identify with the children.
Lepel is called Lepel because he wears a "bracelet" that consists of a strand with 5 cubes with letters on his wrist: L E P E L. Try to imagine these five letters in a circle. Now, push the first two letters around the circle so that they end up being the last two, and you get the boy's real name. Because he's lost his memory, he doesn't know this.
The fact that the alleged grandmother doesn't know the boy's name indicates that she is likely not be his real grandmother.
The film also lightly brushes the subject of autism - the main character has trouble dealing with social relationships, but is excellent with numbers.
All in all, an excellent, underrated film. Suitable for children, but there are layers in there that will please adults as well.
It Could Happen to You (1994)
Impossible-to-dislike romantic comedy
Completely irrational. Highly implausible. Extremely exaggerated.
And still, I cannot find a way to dislike it. Sometimes, you like it when a movie extracts precisely those bits of reality that you like, and emphasizes them.
Some of the scenes are superfluous, and do not add to the overall storyline - but the main thread is simply charming, even if you're not a sucker for romantic comedies. I am not, so I can tell ;-) The characters are portrayed in such a way that you choose sides quickly - from the start of the movie, you know who's Good and who's Bad. But they are also portrayed in such a way that you stick around to support the Good Ones. And you're not disappointed.