Character (1997)

Dreadfully Boring

Amateur movie with Big budget

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Operatic. Shakespearean. Greek Tragedy. Complex. Moving. Unflinching in its depiction of human relationships. (I hesitate to use that phrase as 'human relationships' make me want to run.) But as I just wrote, it is classic dynamics of a distant father and a son. A boy becoming his own man. The harsh expectation of Northern European culture.Beautifully shot. I tend to think of this as the Dutch 'Godfather' in its look.Not 'realistic', but as in all great drama it is -true-.It can also be tough to watch... bad decisions. Occasional mis-guided 'heroism' which can lead to self-destructiveness.I hate this review... all talk about 'themes' and 'meaning'. More than anything? It is beautiful and tragic.

"Karakter" is an awesome movie with an ingenious plot. During the film you end up repeatedly wondering why certain characters behave the way they do, and with the help of marvelous actors (especially Jan Decleir/Dreverhaven), the resolutions always surprise you and leave you pondering. The magnificent cinematography deserves a praise, too, and despite the prolonged chess-game quality of the battle between Jacob Katadreuffe and his father, everything that happens regarding this has a curious thriller aspect to it.Victor Löw's appearance as De Gankelaar is very impressive (perhaps in some ways comparable to Brando's Don Corleone in the Godfather, although these characters are not alike). Also the ethereal beauty (in my opinion) of Tamar van den Dop as Lorna te George didn't hurt my enjoyment of this film at all.Altogether, don't miss "Karakter" if you ever have a chance to watch it!

I really liked this movie a lot. Sometimes i'll come back and refer to this movie when talking to well mostly my father. There was something about this movie that captivates you from the start. Your thrown in halfway in the movie without Much of knowing what's going on. The story slows down and you get to see struggles with a father and son story. This movie has a wonderful script, and very good lines. It is a very smart film that i think is just really good. It gives you a sense of how things were there, and how you can love someone and hate them at the same time. Or how you can love someone but never tell them of that love and yet they know. It's sad letting go and when bad things happen to you, you eventually are left to face the love in a form of anguish and hate.

It is not too frequent that we get Dutch programmes of films or TV-minis in this corner of Europe, and when they do appear it is thanks to the regional Basque TV Station `EITB'. Indeed over two years has passed since seeing the excellent mini `Charlotte Sophie Bentinck' (1996) (qv) and seeing the very interesting `Karakter' recently. Set in the 1920's this film has excellent mise-en-scéne wonderfully photographed, mostly in Holland and Belgium, but with some scenes shot in Wroclaw, Poland, with street-cars of the times, in which the darkened almost greyish brickwork of the tenement buildings and the industrial port areas takes on an intense protagonism in the film's development. Palais van Boem's musical contribution is mostly just right, though at times seemed to be a little boorish.A young, illegitimate boy grows up with his unmarried mother, whilst the father, Dreverhaven, continuously appeals to her to marry him, but always rejected. However, the father seems to do everything possible to disrupt the young man's life, as his mother becomes more and more detached and uncaring. It would seem that Dreverhaven is playing out a real-life game of chess around his son Jacob, as if trying to corner him into submission and apathy, but which the young man manages to survive. The psychological impression is that one or the other would undo his `bitter foe', but that despite the father's vast fortune and power the struggle of will would rebound against him.But as the Dutch saying goes: ‘De één zijn dood, is de ander zijn brood'This is no `thriller' in the ordinary sense, more a psychological suspense which requires attention throughout. The acting is magnificent: both Fedja van Huêt and Jan Decleir play out their parts with just the right touch, especially Decleir, and Lou Landré as Rentenstein is almost spellbinding, not to be missed.Here is another example of the unarguable fact: here in Europe we make cinema, not blockbuster box-office hits.