Sylvia Poorta Movies
- 2008
A troubled teenager embraces a dangerous subculture of hate in this hard-hitting Dutch drama. Frankie (Robert de Hoog) is 17 years old and growing up aimless in the late '70s. Frankie doesn't want to do much with his life besides listening to punk rock and getting high with his best friend, Jeffrey (Juliann Ubbergen), and while he has a close relationship with his mother, Anna (Sylvia Poorta), he clearly doesn't care for his dad, Simon (John Buijsman). When Anna is diagnosed with cancer, Frankie becomes distraught and is soon falling into delinquency. As Frankie develops a taste for violence and vandalism, he's welcomed into a gang of racist skinheads and begins joining them on their periodic raids. But while Frankie finds acceptance with his new friends, it drives him away from Jeffrey, who is black, and opens the wounds between himself and Simon, who is Jewish and spent part of his youth in a Nazi concentration camp. Skin was a rare theatrical film project for television director Hanro Smitsman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert de Hoog, John Buijsman, (more)
- 2006
A put-upon, middle-aged waiter whose life seems to be dictated by the writings of his best friend begs the author of his colorless autobiography for a new hue in a film writer, star, and director Alex van Warmerdam's absurdist take on fate, creativity, and power. A virtual human punching bag for his demanding wife, formidable mistress, and boisterous neighbors, Edgar (van Warmerdam) waits tables at a decrepit dive restaurant known as The West. But work offers no escape from the draining demands of his everyday life, because Edgar's customers are just as unrepentantly abusive as his friends and family. Herman (Mark Reitman) is the author in charge of telling the tale of Edgar's miserable existence, but as persistently as the hapless waiter implores the relentless writer for a merciful break in the madness of his life, Herman's sadistic wife Suzie (Thekla Reuten) always seems to steer Edgar's life in the most disagreeable direction possible. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex Van Warmerdam, Jaap Spijkers, (more)
Dutch filmmaker Paula van der Oest spins this frothy comedy about the ends to which three sisters would go to keep possession of the family's summer home in Portugal. When their 32-year-old brother, Nino, announces his engagement with his younger girlfriend, Bo, his three siblings react not with congratulatory happiness but with shocked indignation instead. For one thing, Nino was gay for most of his teens and twenties; and another, if he gets married then he inherits the summer villa. The three sisters are united by two traits: they each have vivid interior fantasy worlds -- often involving having sex with the other's husbands -- and they each dream of retiring to Portugal. Starving artist Wanda wants to open a gallery there, while writer Sonja dreams of living there with her husband. Michelle, the eldest, wants to flee her hectic domestic life as a housewife and mother to open a home for war orphans. Together, they cheerfully connive to undermine the engagement, as Bo invites them to Portugal to help plan the wedding. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Poorta, Anneke Blok, (more)
