nelleke-97387 Reviews

The Tango Lesson (1997)

Courageous wonderful

[10/10 · 28 April 2024]

I am very impressed by the woman/director who had the courage to bring this movie into reality. I love the choice of black and white and slowly skipp colour, or use it at very special moments.

Sally Potter made it possible to share with us the intimacy of dance, of creative life, of being part of a process of which you do not have control, like in tango.

There are rather complex structures in this type of dance and also in making a movie. Like a director needs money and a lot of equipment and talented people to make a movie, but somehow Sally dances tango and dances with the flow of making a movie too. It all has its natural flow. She was also very courageous to be part of the process by learning to dance the tango herself.

I do love the macho-pride part of Pablo Veron, the part that she exposes broadly. (which is so rooted in the tango and south american danceworld) He is using the light to be excellent in his work! The whole team is dedicated. This was a surprising and heart-felt movie.

Connected: The Hidden Science of Everything (2020)

Science of niet & the future

[9/10 · 23 January 2021]

This series shows the best way to apply science: to connect. The reporter is a funny, enthousiastic simple looking man with great lines of text. The images are both beautiful and funny. The science-people, globally working together, are astonishing. I love the theme ' connected'

Anna Karenina (I) (2012)

Very creative Shaksperean type of crossover movie

[10/10 · 9 November 2020]

Never I saw a movie in which theater and movie, combined with musical and concert, were so cleverly combined. The story, ofcourse, is not easy to digest for modern women. We feel sortie for the way women were kept like birds in golden cages. And some still experience this. So women might have difficulty to watch it. Still it is the way it was. The actors are great theaterplayers in the way they use their texts, and great movieactors in the way they move and use tiny expressions. The director and the persons of the overall vision behind it are genius,'. One has to be such, for the story has been told so many times already.

The Postman (1994)

Charming poetical story

[8/10 · 31 October 2020]

It's always a pleasure to watch Italy's old nostalgic small villages, beaches, daily life. Combined with the poetry and personality of Pablo Neruda, this is a charming story. The postman surprised me too.

The Gift (2019–2021)

Turkish Magic Realism

[9/10 · 16 October 2020]

A series that somehow surprises me all the time that I watch it. Somehow it is clearly related to Dan Brown's DaVinci Code story, but it is so very Turkish that this does not bother me. I like the mystery amd archeology in it. The metaphysical search for personal truth. On the other hand, it is almost a soap. But this is kind of funny too. Surprised.

Messiah (2020)

Not knowing what is to come is great!

[10/10 · 6 September 2020]

This movie touched my heart many times. I love the way modern time has become part of a myth in which everybody tries to take the lead, but no one can. Isn' t this what we experience today? I love the new version of leadership. I like the actors, who are well casted. I love the beautiful images and music. But I love the writer above all!

Knightfall (2017–2019)

Story fails

[6/10 · 21 August 2020]

To create a story on the Knights Templars is a challenge. There are many sources on it and it deserves a high standaard of research. In this movie I do not find enough solid ground for the contents. F.e. there were several popes in this period, of which several died under suspicious circumstances. Until the king of France had found a pope who served him, Ckemens, although even this pope did not freely cooperate to the destruction of the Templars. This brings down the quality and reduces it to a romantic, purely emotional story with much lust for blood and cruelty. A chance for more historic truth and some more insight in which relics in those days really meant, is missed.

Marco Polo (2014–2016)

Impressive grand epic story

[9/10 · 29 July 2020]

I loved to get into this slowly developping (to me) new, strange world of Mongol stories, colours, silence, dynamics, characters. I was never bored, although the story is not the most interesting part of the movie. I could identify easily with alle characters. The main feature was getting insight in some way of ruling an empire, always threatened. I loved the costumes, the landscapes, the relations, the casting.

Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020–2022)

Surprise

[8/10 · 28 June 2020]

A mixture of docu and drama is not always a succes. But in this case it means an interesting combination.

The Resistance Banker (2018)

Authentic story, respectfully told in movie

[9/10 · 22 March 2018]

This film is one in the long series of Dutch WWII stories, that are important to keep on telling because there is news in it, and things we did not now. It is well made, seen from the perspective of drama and direction. Modern with many close-ups and sudden overviews. This is somewhat overwhelming, but it also connects the spectator to as well the private world of the persons in the film, as to the overall situation. Locations are very convincing brought to life and the actors play there roles without showing off. Small and good acting, which works for the camera best. About the contents: It shows to me clearly that war forces people to make choices that one cannot make. A warning that we should never get into war again. It's to me also a movie that shows that the resistance in the Netherlands did its utmost to help, but that there were a lot of barrieres and much pressure from the Germans to disturb everything. This, unfortunately, took the life of too many. The film is also made with much respect to the family of the person who is the maincharacter, and who died at the end of the war. Most convincing in it is also that one can see the maincharacter has problems in not thinking too big, too fast. This, obviously, brings him closer to us as when we see movies of heroes that are limitedless figures. Here there is a human being, who has to make tough decisions and we understand that some things went wrong. Still it is not too sentimental! Good job!

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Rather boring with wasted talents

[3/10 · 21 November 2017]

I was disappointed by this movie, because it had a top cast, and undoubtedly a very good crew, but the movie is too static and too boring. Of course, if you have never read Agatha Christies story you will like her story, because it is unique. But the scriptwriter and director of this movie could have done so much more with the great talents who were at his disposal. I do understand the fact that there's a lot of money in the ticket sale at this moment, just because the movie uses the great name of Agatha Christie. I do see the good work of the camera men and the dedication of the actors, but ..the scriptwriter and the director haven't had any real inspiration to get the great actors into their job: great acting. They were like puppets.

Back to Burgundy (2017)

Perfectly balanced human document

[9/10 · 16 November 2017]

I loved this movie, and I think 'Retour en Bourgogne' is a must-see for people who love France. I enjoyed the seemingly simple and very charming camera-work It hides in fact a very dedicated vision of both director and camera workers.The actors are very good also, because they act naturally as if they are telling their own life story. Enough surprises to keep you stick to the story-line.I was part of this family in no time, and wanted to help them with all these questions that life brings up to us people, as we grow older. I would have liked to have such very nice family members as in this movie!!It never gets too sentimental, which could have easily happened. I liked the way different times and places were entangled. It was pure poetry!

Loving Vincent (2017)

Great work of art

[8/10 · 5 November 2017]

Loving Vincent opens the world of Vincent's paintings in a 3 dimensional way. Something which I'm very grateful for. The story line is alright, and has some convincing parts, some less convincing. It doesn't matter.. It's fascinating to find oneself, for the length of the movie, in his world. I like the colored paintings the most, the black- and white are a bit strange in this 'Vincent language'. It's a fascinating project, with all these artists working on it. The money is very well spend European money, if I understood correctly that it is made at the time and with the money of Poland being the creative center of Europe. (2016) These kind of creative projects are crossovers at it's best!!

150 Milligrams (2016)

true life movie that grabs you by the throat

[10/10 · 9 October 2017]

This movie shows what we have to face nowadays as we follow our own conscience and deep feelings of right against wrong. It is very well played by an actress that is playing over-the-top, but hits the nail with it perfectly. If you go into battle with pharmaceutic industry you will get kind of HYPER, and all kind of doors will literally seem to close or bother your way in or out. The movie is based on a real life story, and that's the only way one can tell such a story, because if it was made-up it could not have worked for this purpose. The movie very suitable for waking up the insomnia that has taken many of us, who are sitting in the waiting rooms of life, because doctors kept them drugged. I did get a lot of energy from the movie, which one cannot say about movies like 'Elle'or "Brimstone' that make women avengers of a way as in the Israelian army. Not interesting story lines for me. So I rated this movie very high, because of integrity and way the story line kept me into it.

Tulipani: Liefde, eer en een fiets (2017)

Expressive fairytale like live story

[9/10 · 23 September 2017]

Tulipani is a movie full of surprises,that follow each other in a fast sequence and leave no time to reflect. But reflection is not needed because the story is to passionate to think about it. One has to undergo it. Italian drama, together with the well known Dutch straightness, makes a wonderful combination. Over the top, of course, but still convincing. Real life events are surprisingly combined with fairytale like elements. The drama changes into humor and vice verse. The storyline is ingeniously put in a funny framework. It's fresh and smart, funny and tender.. A great movie for parents with older kids, or in my situation, a young adult. Somehow my son of 19 years old got IN the story too..(and that's a huge compliment!)

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

Knocked me of my feet

[9/10 · 4 September 2017]

This 'slow' movie takes it's time to get to the core of the pain of LIFE, which is so deeply inside of us, that we don't even notice it, until it is touched.

This movie is DRAMA, but if you go through it, even if it knocks you of your feet, it also has the old Greek way's of what them Greeks thought drama should be. It should purify the spectator, as they believed in, it should WORK. Here the drama DOES work and purify in some mysterious way. I totally believed the main character for having experienced all this.. and I will thank him for having taken the effort to get into this role so deeply. Of course he couldn't do without all the others..Thanks to them too. By the way, the music is wonderfully, and fits in perfectly.

Dunkirk (2017)

Men's world of Dunkirk ??

[5/10 · 22 July 2017]

Dear movie watchers and makers, dear Christopher Nolan,

Today I watched, in Holland, the movie Dunkirk, with great expectations, because I love movies and storytelling,I even do some minor work in it myself.

Of course you, gifted Christoper Nolan, did a great job in directing and intermingling several story lines, and it all 'landed' spectacular at the end! Great techniques, good atmosphere of the landscapes, boats etc. Actors were doing their jobs well, although there wasn't a lot of acting required.

I was interested in this movie because of family stories on WOII. We visited, as a child, many of these regions with our father. He shared a lot about WWII with us, his children.(he was taken by Germans and fled away, submerged, likewise his brother. This brother volunteered as a soldier in Indonesia (1945),in the wish AND illusion of being a hero, but history decided different on that!)

Thoughts on war in the direction of heroism I had to leave behind as I was about 13 years old. My teachers and parents kept telling stories about all the TRAGIC.These were the stories that were, to me, REAL. Somewhere,in the movie Dunkirk, I was missing this REAL story, although I'm convinced you all did you're utmost to create it.

Why is it for me so important that these stories are well told, and why I slowly got the feeling that the focus went to something else? Am I right to put it this way: wasn't it slowly turning out to become a men-made demonstration of new techniques? I mean like real- life sensations and insight in the feelings of the men in spitfire's, tanks, or boats? Is this the right focus on war? The real story? In wartime, Mr Death is a cruel lordship, as we all could see. But somehow Mr. Death had, in Dunkirk, too much charm. The real story is: It's not heroic to die in war, as the movie at the end seems to have told us. It's just very, very tragic when it comes this far.

BESIDES Don't we all feel that it is utter nonsense to follow a boy that survives some like three or four major strikes in streets and on boats? Boats that sink under terrible circumstances? Most of the time he even is INSIDE the boat that's full of water?Ever tried??? NO, you won't survive. It's a fairy tale. I don't buy it, because it's just made up for the story line. Of course he would have died at the very beginning, like all his mates. Somehow I didn't buy the fact that he showed up all the time in situations that were hopeless. Why working on this edge, and making hopeless situations heroic? What's the point of that??? (if it's not a fairy tale or myth or something like that, that speaks to the soul!) I'm very afraid that this romanticism is exactly the prelude for young people to think that war can make them heroes. War makes DEAD heroes, and as we are longing more and more for heroism, we WILL get our next war. Let's be brave in daily life, this is hard enough, isn't it?

And yes, sadly enough, the heroes of war often are just MADE heroes, as the boy in the newspaper. Most young men die of stupidity of choices that are made by their superiors or low instincts of others around them. Don't forget the money that's involved, or some other undercover deal or mission. I know a lot about major mistakes of the resistance in Holland during WWII..and inside quarrels. Dunkirk did show some of it, but it lost ground as it became part of the heroism.

What about the brave men at the dock? How could they be brave? They cannot be heroes of their own. That's the deep tragic. In war there is no OWN decision. You're in a machine that roles on. Which way? You can never tell. You cannot know how it will end, so you even don't know, during the war, if you really ARE at the RIGHT side.

SO Was it compassion and deep understanding that set the TONE of the movie?? Maybe you tried, Christopher, but somehow I think, I lost track. I don't buy the feelings you put into this movie, because for me, it's no good to cry victory on an enormous pile of death bodies, made by modern techniques. There must be other important tales to tell. I'm working on it, and of course I can tell you that's no easy task, because so many things in life do actually distract us, all, and our focus IS hard to keep. Certainly

Viceroy's House (2017)

Touches my heart

[9/10 · 20 July 2017]

Beautifully made movie with two main story lines: a political-world- line, and a very personal-love-line. Somehow it was so true about how life IS or CAN BE that it moved me and touched my heart deeply. Besides: Great actors (good casting!) and very beautifully spoken language. Whoever spoke was so good at it! (I'm into voices for my profession).The movie is a blueprint-story for all countries that have suffered and had profits from countries that were their 'masters'. It also shows that there are all sorts of 'masters'. Besides, that it's time to become brothers and sisters. the other storyline makes clear that LOVE can be something very special, especially when you live in between millions of countrymen and there's all kind of wars going on.The director points it out very clearly!!Good for her, because this could have ruined the movie, but it somehow didn't. GO!!

The Promise (II) (2016)

Beautiful and cruel story of love and war, like the great writers tell us about

[10/10 · 16 June 2017]

I was very moved by this story of the Armenians who were suddenly object of hate and destruction, without knowing why. I loved to be taken into this rich, colorful culture, with lots of authentic details and of course many own traditions. The movie was very well of casting and completely convincing, without making abuse of sentiments. It was the ripe fruit of people in diaspora, who manage to tell about their ancestors being such victims, with such pain, without forcing us to chose any side of the issue. A great human document. It was also about love and connection, about promises and responsibility, which made the movie adult-level for the soul. Who would have such dignity in times of war as most of these people, on all sides of the matter? I'm sure some people will rate this movie lower as it should be, because this still is a political issue. I'm not involved, but I'm in love with this story and that's why I gave it a rate of 10. It must be taken care of!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

Lot's of skills, but not much of a story

[4/10 · 25 May 2017]

Of course Pirates is a great concept, with exact the right music. But in this version 'Salazar's revenge' there is a lack of content, despite a lot of very nice special effects. (I liked the safe-deposit-part very much!) It is a pity, because there are such a great stories in Caribbean history. The Amsterdam archives have enough to discover and uncover. Of course, the makers have their own excuse 'dead men tell no tales'. So how could we blame them?

Victoria (2016–2019)

Victoria well played!

[10/10 · 23 January 2017]

As a director of stage, not involved with any of this, I'm very impressed by Victoria the movie. Because somehow the wall between theater and movie is gone when you get involved with this story and cast. Of course because the girl who plays Victoria is very convincing, (although it could be any queen any time, any place..which I like very much) and of course also because of Lord M. played by the always very intense playing Rufus Sewell. Of course there is also a movement of telling these stories as realistic as one can imagine, like The Crown or like we in Holland have..same sort of such series. I think them less interesting because it is not as well played, to complicated to survive time, and it never can be reality, because we are NOW. So I do love the more timeless stories, where the tension and communication between the personages is most worked out! Of course Victoria is also very beautifully made,on amazing locations. I'm a great fan of British television costume drama..

Brimstone (2016)

Two hours of psychopaths is too much

[1/10 · 17 January 2017]

Waisted TOPtalent (director, cast) because the story is no good. Characters do not develop at all, no mystery at all..just a lot of blood and death. No historical foundation, because for example a minister or vicar is always surrounded (in Protestantism) by elders-ten. So no vicar could ever do these things not-being- watched..and don't underestimate the 'watchers' in the dynamic of something happening like this. So this is more of a catholic priest with much more power, to get to this point. Of course rare events happen, and there are people going mad and can be psychotic about religion and sex..but this has nothing to do with religion itself..people go crazy about the tiniest things, if it is inside them to 'split up'. So this story is about a lunatic and to watch this lunatic for two hours is too much for me. Why wasting such great talents and money for such a boring, horrifying story? There's horror enough in the daily news. So, in my eyes, even the most beautiful images can not hide the lack of content.Thereby: I'm very worried about the development of the cinema, because stories get worse, technique's grow, and money reigns. Like as if investing in rockets, they cost a lot, and most of them never reach their destiny..because they do not know where to go. So we get all this stuff in our stratosphere which hides the real stories..which can also be horrifying, but they will tell us WHY en WHEREFORE..Plain nonsense this is..because it is not about common religion, like it was brought to America from Europe. Religion (see f.e. Scientology) can be even more dangerous, because it is hidden in everything..and it is so close to the truth that people can hardly distinguish it from the truth.So be smart and don't go to this movie, it saves you money and many bad influences, because there's enough of this already.

Mr Selfridge (2013–2016)

Dutch people love Mr Selfridge

[10/10 · 16 May 2015]

Dutch review:

Masterpiece has been successful in touching the hearts of Dutch television-watchers. As a professional director I know what a good job has been done, and many with me..We enjoy the care that has been taken to make us part of the lives of people who must have existed, although their characters are combinations of lots and lots of people. I did notice a lot of people telling each other about this BBCproduction. Although Dutch television has more and more good productions, we are a bit jealous of the Britains..(their budgets?)

Speaking for myself: After having seen almost three seasons of Mr Selfridge (and all his colleagues and family-members) I've become part of some live-stories that captures me over and over again. I almost never watch soaps because of their flat characters, but I cannot wait until the next episode of Mr Selfridge emerges on my flat-screen. (and my son keeps asking why I'm not turning on 'popcorn-tv', I won't! I like the waiting also! Why is it capturing me? As a director of all kind of theater-productions I love the story lines, the natural way of acting (simple and very expressive). I love the (small) details, completely in tune with the characters, but also the big overviews. I especially love the 'over all' atmosphere. I enjoy the flow of images and music, but also the stills. The historical facts are very moving and interesting and I also respect very much the fantasy-parts. People are all different and experience reality from another point of view, so some fantasy is right into place.. Until now I have noticed the very carefully build up characters, all with different accents, color of voices, dressing-style, hairstyle and make-up. I'm amazed about the continuously development of their characters, which isn't an easy job to do. In two words: Well done! Many a people won't express their-selves on this type of platforms..But they also love Mr Selfridge (and the others)