Thom Hoffman Movies

The collapse of Spain's fascist leadership in 1975 has unexpected repercussions elsewhere in Europe in this taut suspense drama. Charles Williamsen (Thom Hoffman) is an American who has come to the French Basque countryside to do research on birds. Charles meets a fellow traveler and bird enthusiast, Miranda Fernandez (Ines de Medeiros), who is from Spain and whose father is an advisor to Franco. Charles and Miranda soon grow fond of one another, though as they get to know each other she finds herself repeatedly drawn into conversations with others about Franco's rapidly failing health, prompted in part by her father's imminent arrival. Charles and Miranda are staying at the same hotel, where they encounter fellow guests Mitch (Hans Meyer) and Beth (Catherine de Seynes). Many of the locals seem quite familiar with Mitch, though he claims to be a British tourist who has never visited the area before, and while Mitch's explanations seem convincing, no one is sure why he is using a surveillance camera to monitor the activities of a nearby farmhouse -- or how Charles got a pair of military-grade night-vision goggles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Filled with plenty of psychedelic imagery and techno-pop music, this drama follows the adventures of an unsophisticated 21-year-old country girl who gets too deeply involved with Amsterdam's rave clubs. She is Jacqueline and makes her living selling designer drugs and tickets to the all-night underground parties. She is headed for trouble when she begins selling drugs for the creepy JP, who also becomes her lover. This doesn't set well with Jacqueline's current boyfriend Martijn, who moves out of their apartment. The plot also deals with some of Jacqueline's clients, especially DD and Yoyo, a pair of ambitious and ruthless girlfriends who con Jacqui into loaning them money for a new dance recording. DD also manipulates the master deejay Cowboy in preparation of usurping his position as the top jock on the circuit. It is during an increasingly violent rave party that Jacqui is finally forced to reassess her lifestyle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A female writer bases her newest book on the affair she had with her publisher in this Dutch drama. Lin is the glamorous writer who finds herself pulled out of a canal by two riverboat men. Her story is told in flashback. Her recently published book "Wildgroei"(Dutch for "Wild Growth") chronicled her one-sided passion for her publisher Emile who chose Lin's sister Marot instead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Although at no point are the viewers given any hint of what the ongoing interrogation of the woman in this film is about, or what she is accused of, reviewers found this somewhat abstract dramatic study in investigation and questioning unusually absorbing. In addition to the accused, numerous witnesses to the never-disclosed crime are questioned in a similarly enigmatic fashion in their homes and apartments. Later, the witnesses are brought together into a large room, where they are confronted again. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Those whose impressions of the Netherlands are dominated by the very hip modern city of Amsterdam may be unaware that for centuries the country was noted for a pervasive bourgeois stodginess that exceeded anything that Henrik Ibsen ever said about the Norwegian middle class of his time. In 1889, Dutch society was set on its ears by the quite long poem Eline Vere by Louis Couperus, published in installments in the newspapers, which minutely described the mores, manners and hypocrisies of the time. To this day, Dutch schoolchildren learn about their past by studying that poem, which boasts a Dickensian richness of description and vivid characterizations. This melodramatic film follows Eline Vere (Marianne Basler), the heroine of the poem, as she attempts to break free from the confines of her narrow existence in Den Haag (the Hague) through three tumultuous and ultimately disastrous courtships. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This avant-garde film by Frans van de Staak follows four persons (each played by two different actors alternating in the roles) as they rush about the streets of Amsterdam, each of them extremely busy doing something. One highlight of the film is the reading of several of the poems of celebrated poet Gerrit Kouwenaar. Despite its severely experimental style and deliberate storylessness, this film was sufficiently inventive and rhythmically interesting to receive a warm reception from some critics. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Tom Hulce plays a Polish Jew who turns to the Dutch profiteer Theo (Jeroen Krabbe) for help to escape from the Nazis. Theo refuses to help the fugitive because he has no money, but the desperate visitor insists on staying. Theo risks his life by giving the man food and shelter. Hulce's character (who is never referred to as Shadowman) jumps into an Amsterdam canal and swims for his life while the Nazis try to gun him down. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Nite Song is essentially wishful thinking, albeit handled in a credible fashion. Bobby Smith and Thom Hoffman star as a couple of inner city kids. Surrounded at all sides by crack and coke dealers, the boys are sorely tempted to join the drug scene. Only their unshakeable religious convictions save Bobby and Thom from ruination. This inspirational video was released by Heartland Productions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This romantic thriller is set in Amsterdam and centers upon a happily married, financially comfortable young couple whose lives are destroyed when the wife is killed in a car crash en route to London. The distraught husband falls into a deep well of despair. One year later, his depression is lifted when he meets a woman named Eileen who is an exact double of his late wife. The husband becomes obsessed with her. The woman becomes frightened, but cannot seem to escape her stalker. Eventually she succumbs to his persistent advances, but the result is only more confusion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

More a collection of characters and scenery in the region of Parma than a drama with a hefty storyline, this film focuses on three main protagonists. Anna (Valeria D'Obici) is a waitress who develops an interest in Tom (Thom Hoffman) who rolls into town on his jeep to photograph the peasants and townies. The young Andrea (Andrea Puglisi) is also in town visiting his aunts. The three young people meet and decide to go do things together; they fish, they banter and scamper about, and in general are supplemented by a wide range of local color that is just a tad over the top. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Director Adriaan Ditvoorst indulges enough of his own inclinations in this somber, avant-garde pastische of symbols and events in the life of a supposedly sophisticated nonconformist to turn off most audiences, no matter what their artistic orientation. Lazlo (Thom Hoffman) is a loner who sits in meditation on top of an abandoned factory, takes heroin, paints surreal murals inside the same factory, and sneers at addicts and society in general. When he returns home to help out his handicapped mother who lives in a decrepit mansion, symbols abound like cherry blossoms on the usually bare tree in her yard. Even the striking camerawork, excellent technical credits, good acting and sonorous music cannot overcome the superficial nature of the symbolism, the scenes that lead nowhere, the occasional, misplaced sarcasm, and Ditvoorst's lack of concern for his audience. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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