La Promesse

[pmw]

Going to see the Dardenne Brothers Film, La Promesse at the Belgian Film Fest today. Their latest, The Son, is a tough but excellent film that should open in January (probably limited, but worth seeking out). They also made Rosetta which won the Grand Prize at the Cannes a few years back...
P

[oscar jubis]

It's March and we're still waiting for THE SON here. I own ROSETTA and LA PROMESSE on dvd. This films remind me a bit of the films directed by Ken Loach in the UK. Actually I find the Dardenne bros. more rigorous and focused. I wonder if The Son maintains the same interest in European youth dealing with the flaws of a parent and its impact on the development of the youth's character and values. Have their documentary films shown outside Belgium and France? I'd like to see them.

Actually I just found your review under NY Film Festival Review thread. I like what you say about creating suspense in a natural way and other comments that could well apply to Rosetta and Promesse.

[Maguffin]

Havent seen any of their other movies, but i was pleasantly surprised by Le Fils (The Son), when I saw it at the Rotterdam Film Festival.

Incredibly smart use of camera, by often not showing the public everything they keep up the suspense and can even make the most dullest moments interesting.
In the end they even succeed in letting you think something which you are ashamed of afterwards. At least that was the case with me.

If it is shown in a cinema near you, i suggest you go watch it. Its definitly worth the entrance money.

[oscar jubis]

I plan to see Le Fils as soon as it opens here. I love Amsterdam but have never been to Rotterdam. Can you tell me a little about the fest? Do the screenings sell out quickly? Do most seats go to industry people? What is the cost of tickets? Thanks. I recommend you rent La Promesse (and write to tell us what you think).

[Johann]

I saw the Palm D'or winning "Rosetta" and fancied it quite a lot. I will check out the other 2 mentioned when I get a chance.

[Maguffin]

With Amsterdam you mean the city or the Documentary Festival (which was very bad this year).

The Rotterdam Film Festival used to be a festival for young talent. They always had a lot of debuting films, but nowadays its all reruns of other festivals.

This year "whale rider" won the public choice award, and second came cidade de deus (which i liked better).

The films I saw there sadly werent all that good.
"24 Hour party people" and "Le Fils" are the only once worth mentioning. "Gerry" was ok, it had some great shots and there was one film that blew my mind.
It was included in a program called "Cum Laude" which showed films students made in their last year. The French representant was a great nihilistic shrot about a doctor, who had seen too much illness in the world and couldnt handle seeing one of his patients dying a slow death.

But besides that a lot of the films were either too pretentious, too amateuristic or just what you expect them to be (Spider, 24 hour party people, the commercial lot).

Tickets are more expensive than ever, going for a whopping 8 euro. Thats probably almost the same in dollars.

One of the good things this year was that you could order ( a max of 2) tickets online, becuase ordering them through the phone service is close to impossible. I tried phoing them for half a day and couldnt get through.
The not so commercial picks didnt sell out that fast, so you had a good chance of seeing those.
I dont know about industry people, but if you're important, you probably get stuff for free.

I'll rent La Promesse and while im at it Rosetta as well. It will take a while before i find time to watch them though, need to finish my documentary in 4 weeks... so as you can imagine, its all work and no play for me.

[pmw]

What kind of documentary are you making?
P

[Maguffin]

Its supposed to be a 15 minute documentary about a place where past and future collide.
Im a student at a Dutch film school, so dont think its gonna be an incredible documentary.

My subject is an island which sunk (along with al the houses that were on it) in the sea around 1639. There are still people who have the name of the island as a last name, because they are descendants of the survivors. And a writer has written a semi fictional book about the island.
I still have to shoot everything, including the interviews with the writer and a man who researched his relation with the island and managed to find information about a relative who lived on it in 1600.
Ive also got some cool footage which divers shot in the murky waters of Holland, thats gonna be the most important metaphorical image of the search for the past.

Hopefully it will be good and theres a small chance it will be shown on Dutch television. I keep my fingers crossed,

[miseenscene]

Sounds very cool. Feel free to post it online when it's finished, if you have a chance. I bet a lot of us here would be interested in seeing it (though English subtitles may be warranted ;)... )

[oscar jubis]

The Dardenne brothers have once again matched the greatness of their first fiction feature (La Promesse) with their most recent moral exploration within a minutely detailed work environment: The Son. The quote below is from Roger Ebert's review.

Walk out of the house today, tonight, and see it, if you are open to simplicity, depth, maturity, silence, in a film that sounds in the echo-chambers of the heart. THE SON is a great film. If you cannot respond to it, that is the degree to which you have room to grow.