Frank van Passel Movies
- 2009
Two well-meaning bohemians embrace a freedom that becomes a trap in this drama from Belgian filmmaker Dorothee van den Berghe. In 1974, freethinking couple Dalia (Deborah Francois) and Raven (Matthias Schoenaerts) are a pair of artists who have decided to leave their bourgeois life behind and join a group of squatters who are setting up a collective home in an abandoned building in Amsterdam. Dalia and Raven have a ten-year-old daughter Karo (Anna Franziska Jager) who joins them on their great adventure, and at first the youngster is excited by the freedom of living among adults who have thrown off the boundaries of property and self-centered attitudes. However, as Karo's parents dive head first into life in the collective house, Karo finds she's no longer a priority in their lives, and while they build Karo her own swing in the common room, she still feels lost in the new home. Tension grows between Dalia and Raven when he brings a woman named Alice (Maria Kraakman) and her children into the collective and Raven and Alice begin having an affair; while free love is a key tenant of the collective, Dalia wasn't expecting Raven to embrace sex with other women so openly and enthusiastically, and she is wracked with frustration and jealousy. Meanwhile, Karo makes friends with another tenant in the building, Jacky (Rifka Lodeizen), a former competitive swimmer who is a strong believer in rules and structure. Jacky helps Karo join a swim team in hopes of bringing some needed stability into her life, but her personal success doesn't do much to help her parents failing relationship. My Queen Karo was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2009
A loser experiences the fulfillment of his wildest fantasies when a dramatic personality shift overtakes him in Dirty Mind, Belgian director Pieter Van Hees's (Linkeroever) contemporary Jekyll and Hyde fable. For years, Diego (Wim Helsen) has felt worthless as a human being, saddled with a palpable sense of inferiority to his popular, outgoing brother. A klutz and a perpetual reject with women, he spends his days trailing the sibling, a stuntman on movie sets. But life changes when Diego receives a violent whonk on the head, and regains consciousness as Tony T. - a self-assured freewheeler who never hesitates with women and takes a free rein in social situations. The trouble is, Tony experiences some serious impulse control issues thanks to a frontal lobe injury - issues that drop him into boiling hot water time and again and ultimately threaten to ruin the young man's life. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wim Helsen, Peter Van Den Begin, (more)
The lines between mental breakdown and externalized predation blur for a poor young woman in Left Bank, director Pieter van Hees's moody and enigmatic psychological thriller. Eline Kuppens stars as Marie, an emotionally troubled and socially isolated girl from a broken family, who finds meaning in her life by committing to intense athletic competition. Sadly, Marie soon catches an infection, which triggers an immediate physical collapse and forces her to rest for a lengthy period of time. She nonetheless finds solace in a new paramour, the archer Bobby. He not only imparts reassurance and provides an emotional anchor, but exudes an optimism and a zeal for life that prove contagious and even prompt Marie's mother to invite comparisons with Marie's dad. Then, just when it seems that the young woman could not possibly feel more joyous or content, her life turns a dark corner. She agrees to move into Bobby's flat on the "Left Bank," a dank and slightly menacing housing project in a seedy neighborhood. In seemingly no time, she learns that a previous occupant vanished under inexplicable circumstances, which adds to her overall sense of paranoia; she also suffers physically, from encroaching headaches, nausea and sleeplessness, and becomes convinced that the place is wreaking havoc on her mind and body. Meanwhile, her mistrust of the incredulous and skeptical Bobby also builds to a fever pitch. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Frank Van Passel's adaptation of William Elsschot's novella Villa des Roses stars Julie Delpy. Delpy is a French maid who works at a home for the poor and unfortunate. She becomes pregnant, and is forced to risk a dangerous abortion. The director employed digital effects to help create the elaborate visual design of the film. Villa des Roses was screened at the Hollywood Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Delpy, Shaun Dingwall, (more)
- 1996
- R
Brylcream Boulevard is the second in Belgian filmmaker Robbe De Hert's uncompleted "Belgian Graffiti" trilogy. The first installment, Blueberry Hill was set in the mid '50s and chronicled the lives and adventures of a group of high school students. This episode begins five years later in the early '60s and looks at how adulthood has changed them. Robin De Hert, the former rebel returns home after a stint in the Navy and discovers his old nemesis Mr. Verbiest, the crooked teacher he oust, has become a corrupt politician. This particularly galls Robin, who still blames Verbiest for the death of his best friend in high school. Enlisting the aid of his ex-girl friend and high school buddies, Robin devises an ingenious scheme for revenge. Unfortunately, his elaborate sexual entrapment plan (the results of which he will broadcast on television) seems dicey to the others, so he prepares a plan B. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
This almost mystical Belgian romance centers upon a young man who is unable to utter the three little words his girl friend most wants to hear. Harry is the emotionally damaged young man who boards a streetcar driven by pretty Jeanne. They briefly flirt before he disembarks and heads for an apartment building. There he sees the body of a tenant who has just committed suicide being carted off. Harry immediately talks the aged housekeeper, Denise, into letting him the room. Denise is haunted by the death of her lover who was killed by a bomb at the end of WW II; a chunk of the fatal bomb is enshrined in her living room. Harry gets a job as a dishwasher in a run-down restaurant. Later he learns that Jeanne lives on the same city block. She instigates a romance between them, but finds him emotionally distanced and unable to commit to her. Still, she loves him and patiently draws the terrible story from Harry. When he was quite young, he and his happy family were on vacation. At his insistence, the family stopped at a railroad crossing so he could urinate. Just as he left the car, he told his mother, "I love you." As he emptied his little bladder, a train hit the car and killed his family. Harry blames those three words and hasn't spoken them since the tragedy. To force him to say "I love you" again, Jeanne enlists the aide of Denise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
