Roef Ragas Movies
Susan Vreeland's novel The Girl in Hyacinthn Blue was the source for this made-for-TV drama. Utilizing a complex flashback-within-flashback structure, the film chronicles the 300-year history of a lost painting said to have been created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. The story is framed by the present day narrative of an eccentric history teacher (Glenn Close) who has the inside track on the number of lives profoundly altered, for both good and ill, by the elusive painting. The teacher's tale interconnects individual stories of tragedy, romance, success, failure and even the Holocaust. Even the narrator herself has a personal and emotional stake in the supposed Vermeer. Advertised as the most expensive and ambitious project ever undertaken during the 52-year history of television's Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series, Brush With Fate debuted February 2, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Thomas Gibson, (more)
- 2000
An exercise in chronological displacement, Total Loss begins and ends with the spectacular crash of a car carrying three drunken men, one of whom survives after being thrown from the wreckage. From the film's subsequent action, which takes place during the 24 hours preceding the crash, audiences learn that Ranier (Yorick van Wageningen) is a houseboy and all-around Guy Friday to Duco (Roef Ragas), an arrogant doctor who took Ranier in after he escaped a drug deal gone bad. Duco, a closeted homosexual, is attracted to Ranier and gives him lavish gifts even as he humiliates him with sadistic relish. One evening, Ranier discovers the near-frozen, unconscious body of Jeroen (Franky Ribbens) on Duco's property and nurses him to health. Once conscious, Jeroen tells his savior that he tried to off himself with pills after smothering to death his much-loved, Alzheimer's-ravaged father; Ranier in turn confesses his involvement in the aforementioned drug deal, further complicated by his pursuit by an old, allegedly dead colleague. Meanwhile, Duco is making trouble for Ranier; after doing cocaine with Jeroen, he demands Ranier drive them to a New Year's Eve party hosted by Duco's parents, where he plans to embarrass them in front of their guests by announcing his homosexuality. As the car carrying the trio lurches towards the inevitable crash, tensions heighten and tempers combust. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yorick Van Wageningen, Roef Ragas, (more)
- 1998
Forced into prostitution against her will, a battered Anna (Monic Hendrickx) wanders the streets of a small town in Holland's northern Groningen area, falling before farmer Henk (Dutch theater actor Jaap Spijkers), who takes her in. Their relationship develops, but it is threatened by the imminent foreclosure on Henk's farm. Directed by Algerian-born Karim Traidia, a Dutch resident for the past 18 years, this film is one of the low-budget features in the end-of-the-millennium Dutch film series known as "Route 2000," which also includes Paula van der Oest's Tate's Voyage, Mart Dominicus' Fl. 19,99, and Boris Pavel Conen's Temmink. World premiere at the 1998 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jaap Spijkers, Monic Hendrickx, (more)
With Breaking The Waves, director Lars von Trier fashions an often disturbing tale of the singular power of love. Bess (the Oscar-nominated Emily Watson) is a naïve, borderline simple young woman who lives in a Scottish coastal town ruled by the religious doctrine of its council of elders. Recovering from a mental breakdown caused by the death of her brother, Bess marries a rough yet compassionate and attentive oil rig worker named Jan (Stellan Skarsgård). For a brief time, the couple enjoys peaceful wedded bliss, with the worldly Jan introducing Bess to the mysteries of sex. Jan must soon return to his job on the rig, however, where he is paralyzed from the neck down in a freak accident. Bess' emotional trauma over Jan's injury turns into obsession as she prays to God for his recovery and offers to do anything to have her husband back whole. Jan, constantly medicated and profoundly depressed, asks Bess to have sex with other men and tell him about it, thinking this will allow her to return to a normal life. Bess, on the other hand, sees it as an expression of her devotion to Jan that even God won't be able to ignore. Bess' resultant downward spiral leads to a finale of both tragedy and spirituality. Breaking the Waves is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive European movies of the 1990s, marking von Trier's movement toward his influential Dogma 95 school of filmmaking, which emphasizes realistic situations of contemporary life, filmed without background music and with a hand-held, restlessly moving camera. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård, (more)
- 1994
In this Dutch drama a couple in their thirties struggles as they are torn between their deep love for each other and the tremendous conflicts between them. It is set in an area of Amsterdam, down by the docks, filled with counter-cultural people. Lou, a bit of a hippy, is a singer and political activist. Her lover Bob, is a conservative lawyer who works in a firm that does not endorse activities such as Lou's. They constantly, quietly disagree. He wants children; she doesn't. He wants her to fix up her houseboat; she likes it rundown and funky. When a project to fix up the docks begins, the tensions between the couple increase dramatically. Bob throws himself into his work while Lou becomes increasingly insecure as her neighborhood is slowly destroyed. Also adding stress to her life is the recent drowning of a refugee friend who died escaping the police, and the impending death of her HIV positive-singing partner. Her surprise pregnancy only exacerbates their problems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marieke Heebink, Mark Rietman, (more)
