20s Movie Review - Faithfully Yours

Director: André van Duren
Genre: Thriller/ Mystery
Runtime: 95 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Bracha van Doesburg, Elise Schaap, Nasrdin Dchar, Gijs Naber, Matteo Simoni, Hannah Hoekstra

Description: Best friends Bodil (Bracha van Doesburg) and Isabel (Elise SChapp), apparently happily married, sneak off for secret affairs using each other as an alibi. But when Isabel us killed when they were supposed to have been together, Bodil gets caught up in her own web of lies.

Review: “Faithfully Yours” opens with a statement about lying. In the opening image, we see a dog with bloodied paws walk away from a house. We already know something back has happened. It seems “Faithfully Yours” wants to combine suspense with an intelligent script. They didn’t succeed.

Bodil and Isabel are best friends and they both live a double live. And they have been for quite some time. Every once in a while the two take a cultural trip, where they stay in Belgium where Bodil has inherited a country house. Both women indulge ins spicy affairs and they are each other’s alibi. On this trip, something goes horribly wrong when Isabel disappears. The only trace is a substantial bloodbath, but Isabel is nowhere to be found.

When Isabel’s disappearance turns into a lurid murder case, including a shady plot, Bodil faces a dilemma. By telling the truth, Bodil and Isabel’s carefully constructed lies will collapse. Their real lives will thus be destroyed. Surely Bodil cannot risk that, so she becomes entangled in her own web of lies.
While one far-fetched plot twist after another presents itself, the characters themselves remain totally underexposed. Everyone is distant, cold, interested in only themselves, unlikeable. The film has an unsympathetic tone and remains flat. “Faithfully Yours” is never really exciting, rather boring. And not credible at all.

On top of that, the sketchy murder plot is very vague and has underdeveloped ideas, with a revelation that really makes no sense at all. It feels like a last-minute solution.

It’s a dumb story with stupid characters that nobody cares about. And you have to sit through all that only to finish with a lame finale. “Faithfully Yours” is a shameful waste fo talent, time and money.

Rating: 1,5/ 5

10s Movie Review - April, May en June

Director: Will Koopman
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 118 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Linda de Mol, Elise Schaap, Tjitske Reidinga, Bas Hoeflaak, Olga Zuiderhoek, Patrick Duffy, Peter Bolhuis, Gijs Scholten van Asschat, Mark Rietman, Dragan Bakema

Description: Three estranged half-sisters (Linda de Mol, Elise Schaap, Tjitske Reidinga) attempt to rekindle their feeble bond when their dying mother (Olga Zuiderhoek) implores them to take care for the their socially-challenged brother (Bas Hoeflaak)

Review: When mother Mies knows she is dying, she and het three daughters face difficult decisions. Who gets her money and the house? There is also an important condition attached to this inheritance: the one who gets everything must also take care of the heavily autistic brother Jan. June is the most logical choice, since she is the most responsible one. But June is already busy raising her own three children. April has a whole life in the US, working as a soap actress. And May especially is still figuring out her own life. And the deadline is approaching, because on her birthday Mies wants to end it.
It is difficult to get into a story, when none of the three main characters are sympathetic. The three sisters are each in their own way narcissistic, irritating and averse to any self-awareness at the moment when their mother brings them the bas news. And then they especially seem to find themselves very pathetic. As a result, even the most of the three, June, still finds it difficult to go along with her emotion when she bursts into teats as soon as the realization really sets in that her mother will soon be gone.
Maybe not very surprising when you consider that the story idea comes from lead actress Linda de Mol. It all seems that this is more of a project to caress her ego. Just think of the three professions these Dutch sisters have practices. April is a soap actress in America, June wrote for a best-selling magazine and May is trying to be a model. All three occupations that De Mol has done something with. In addition, “April, May en June” was directed by Will Koopman, who has been involved in many film and TV projects in which De Mol was also involved.
These things don’t necessarily have to result in a bad movie. And you feel that the aim was to make more of this than the sweet drama film that came out of it. All kinds of modern themes pass: caring for others, sustainability, transgenders and euthanasia. However, they don’t become much more than mentioned topics. The subjects are in the film and that is perhaps the most you can say about them.
After a false start, these three unlovable characters, for whom you can hardly cheer in the beginning, stumble their way through their imperfect lives and then all three get a reality check. And then, actually too late, you start to feel a little empathy.
Director Will Koopman doesn’t have a great reputation in my books, since I haven’t rated any of her movies higher then 2,5 stars. And this movie will not be an exception. This movie, from The Netherlands, is your typical Dutch film that tries to be too American and Hollywood. It even puts actor Patrick Duffy on the poster, when he is only in it for five minutes. And this try was not a success.

Rating: 2,5 / 5