Jean van de Velde Movies

Dutch pop idol Marco Borsato (Onderweg) makes his feature acting debut in this outing from director Jean van de Velde, an adventure with a central conceit that recalls John Boorman's 1985 The Emerald Forest. He stars as Eduard van Zuiderwijk, a chef whose friend's son has been kidnapped and inducted in a training camp for child soldiers in the African jungles. Never one to take such insults sitting down, Eduard commits to delivering the unfortunate tyke from his evil captors, and high-tails it to Africa for a daring rescue mission. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A cop convinces a friend on the wrong side of the law to trust him, only to see their lives endangered when someone else betrays that trust in this Dutch crime thriller. Eddy (Cas Jansen) is a police detective whose career seems stuck in neutral. Hoping for a promotion, he warily agrees to approach his old friend Jackie (Victor Low), a small-time hash dealer, and persuade him to act as an informant as the police try to put Haveman (Ton Kas), one of the nation's biggest dope wholesalers, behind bars. Jackie and his wife have just become parents, and Jackie thinks becoming a police informant might prevent him from doing serious time if he's ever busted, so he agrees to cooperate with Eddy under the condition that his status as an informer be kept a strict secret. But Eddy soon discovers that someone in the department has been leaking information about Jackie's secret testimony, which puts both Jackie and Eddy's lives in great danger. Lek was directed by Jean van de Velde, who enjoyed a pair of major box-office successes in the Netherlands with All Stars and De Kleine Blonde Dood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A mismatched couple find themselves trying to work out their many differences with a four-month winter blackout looming before them in the romantic comedy-drama When the Light Comes. Ellen (Francesca Vanthielen) is a college student looking for an unusual summer job and seems to have found one when she gets work on a ship sailing into the Arctic Circle, where she starts to get friendly with a handsome sailor named Robbert (Rick Engelkes). However, during a quick stop to pick up supplies, Ellen impulsively jumps ship to find out what the life of an arctic trapper is like, and soon finds herself hooked up with Lars (Joachim Krol). Lars doesn't really know what to say to Ellen, and, even if he did, they wouldn't understand each other anyway -- she speaks English and he Norwegian. He also has a hard time keeping his hands to himself -- no great surprise, since for the last several months his only companions have been a pack of sled dogs. In time, Lars learns enough English to be able to communicate with Ellen, and her youthful spunk starts to mesh with his man-of-the-land personality. But will Ellen give Lars what he's so obviously interested in, or does she still have Robbert on the brain? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A professional woman falls in love with a potentially murderous neighbor in her apartment building in this gripping Dutch thriller. Roos, a divorcee doctor with a young son, has just moved into her ultra-modern apartment beside the sea. One of her first visitors is Eric, an attractive copywriter who shares his suspicions that fellow tenant and housekeeper for Roos may be in danger. Sure enough, the housekeeper is found murdered in her apartment. Meanwhile, Roos is being harassed by an obscene caller. Unbeknownst to her, she is also being spied upon by a binocular toting peeper. Eric becomes buddies with her son Davy. Soon he tries to buddy up to her, and despite the warnings of other tenants, finds herself equally attracted to him. Eric is arrested as a suspect for the housekeeper's murder and also on the suspicion that he killed his wife and Roos begins to feel paranoid. Her fear increases when another woman in the building is found strangled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this ostensible combination of a psychological drama and film noir, Pavel Mosz (Onno Molenkamp) has survived a KGB attempt at killing him off, after they frame him for a murder he did not commit. It seems Pavel is an emigre from Prague, a dissident the KGB would rather eliminate than tolerate. But after the failed murder attempt, Pavel suffers a case of amnesia -- and this time the KGB decides to provide him with a fabricated past to their own advantage and sets about to convince him to commit an assassination. Unfortunately, the script does not quite measure up to the good work in photography, musical score, and acting that do distinguish this first feature film by Jules van de Velde. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This drama by three young directors (Rene Seegers, Jean van de Velde, and Leon de Winter) is enhanced by its unique perspective: it contrasts the unappealing, industrialized, noisy, poor, and polluted world of today with an ideal view of the past. Herman Durer (Felix-Jan Kuipers) is a social dropout who has spent a bit of time behind bars and finds the concept of a job repugnant. Then one day he reads a book (itself unusual) about a leisurely, 18th-century life in Italy, just the kind of life he wants to lead. Armed with gritty determination and no sense, Herman leaves Amsterdam for the greener pastures of Italy. His imagination conjures up an 18th-century view of the world around him that stands in stark contrast to the reality he sees on his way to an unobtainable Shangri-la. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide