Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Abbey Hoes, Olivia Lonsdale, Romy Gevers, Holly Mae Brood, Gijs Blom, Jelka van Houten, Thijs Boermans, Niek Roozen, Shahine el Hamus
Description: A girls weekend in a remote cottage in the Ardennes. Relationships are put into focus - do the four girls know everything about each other?
Review: Four city girls decide that, before they graduate from high school, they want to take a trip to a remote cottage in the Ardennes. The rustic environment is quickly disturbed by fights amongst the girls and finding out that each of the them carries a secret.
On their way to the Ardennes you see the contrasts between the four girls. Pippa is the popular girl, while Kim is the silent and timid one. Kim has been best friends with Abby for a long time and Pippa is coming between the two. And then there is Feline, the moral compass of the group.
When they arrive at the cottage, it’s clear that Pippa calls the shots and tries to sabotage the friendship between Kim and Abby. And Feline sees everything from a distance. When they invite a group of Dutch boys into their cottage, it brings even more tension between the girls.
“Vals” is meant for teen girls. It’s based on a book by the same name, written by Mel Wallis de Vries. It won the Young Jury prize in 2012. And for the youthful viewers there are many relevant themes present: (homo)sexuality, bullying, friendship. It will certainly speak to the targeted audience. But the actresses that portray these sixteen, seventeen year old girls are clearly older. Which make it not very credible.
The film threatens to fall into clichés and towards the end, when they decide to throw in a major plot twist, the screenplay is one big mess. The actresses are all very strong and they make this film watchable. But the ending is also not very credible and convincing, that even the performers couldn’t save it.
Entertaining, only for one viewing.
Rating: 2,5/ 5
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten