Theo Maassen Movies
- 2008
Two teenage girls who are each facing a crisis set off on an adventure in this comedy-drama from Holland. Desie (Eve van de Wijdeven) is an eighteen-year-old girl from the Netherlands who likes to party and enjoys flirting with guys perhaps a bit too much. Desie's best friend is Dunya (Maryam Hassouni), whose family are expatriates from Morocco; even though they seem to have little in common on the surface, Desie and Dunya are all but inseparable, and Dunya's family are worried that her pal may be a bad influence. Dunya's parents Rachida Iaallala and Mahjoub Benmoussa) have arranged for her to marry a boy in Morocco, though Dunya herself isn't especially happy about the idea. Shortly before Dunya is to be sent to Morocco to meet her new husband, Desie learns that she's pregnant, and she's not sure what to do next. Desie's father abandoned the family years ago and headed to Casablanca; she decides to go find him, and Dunya runs off with her. Dunya and Desie was adapted from a popular Dutch television series, with Eve van de Wijdeven and Maryam Hassouni reprising their roles from TV. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maryam Hassouni
A desperate criminal's delusions send him on a deadly chase in this Dutch thriller. Johan (Theo Maassen) is serving time for murder and sexual assault, but is convinced that he would go free if his mother would appeal to the parole board on his behalf. However, another hearing comes and goes without Johan being released, so he breaks out of prison and sets out to find his mom. Johan kills his grandmother when she refuses to tell him where mother can be found, and on the run from authorities he takes a hostage, a pretty teenage girl named Tessa (Lisa Smit). Despite her initial fears, Tessa begins to feel sympathetic towards Johan, but when a meeting with his mother takes a turn for the worse, Tessa is shocked into awareness of how dangerous her situation really is. TBS (aka Nothing To Lose) was screened in competition at the 2008 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theo Maassen, Lisa Smit, (more)
Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven returned to the Netherlands after more than twenty years of success in Hollywood to direct this epic-scale war drama based on a true story. Rachel Steinn (Carice van Houten) is a beautiful Jewish woman living in German-occupied Holland during late 1944. Her family members - who have been falsely promised safe passage to Belgium (their names recorded in the 'black book' of the title) are instead robbed and slaughtered by the Germans on a premeditated basis; Rachel herself manages to escape by diving into the water and swimming away. She narrowly avoids capture, then joins the local resistance movement. With her hair dyed blonde, Rachel can easily pass for Aryan, and when the leader of the Dutch resistance movement learns his son has been captured by Axis forces, Rachel is asked to use her feminine charms to persuade a German commander to arrange for the boy's release. Rachel soon finds herself caught up in a dangerous double life as she becomes a sexual plaything for the Nazis while attempting to bring down their evil empire as a spy. Zwartboek was written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman, who collaborated on the 1977 international success Soldier of Orange. Zwartboek received its world premier at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, (more)
