Monday, February 9, 2009

Moscow, Belgium (Aanrijding in Moscou) (2008)

Every bit as entertaining as He's Just Not That Into You, but without the ensemble, eye candy, and distribution. Homer Simpson wouldn't see this, because it requires reading (subtitles). The title actually translates to Collision in Moscow (Moscow is the suburb of Ghent, Belgium, in which the movie takes place), and the language is, according to various sources, Flemish, Dutch, and/or a local Ghent dialect (it sounded to me like a combination of Dutch and French). The only mention of Moscow or Moscou is visual: it is written on a passing tram in one brief shot, so, if you miss it, you'll wonder why that name was chosen. Matty is having a bad day. Her husband Werner has left her for one of his art students, she doesn't know where her teenage daughter Vera is, her pre-teen daughter Fien wants to be a teenager, her youngest, Nicky, won't get his face out of his video games, she bumps her car into a huge truck in the grocery store parking lot, gets into a shouting match with the driver Johnny, and then the hijinks begin. This is great fun and it's a shame it's available to so few. I could imagine it as an American remake, as long as they get actors as passionate as Barbara Sarafian (Matty) and Jurgen Delnaet (Johnny), and as languid as Anemone Valcke (Vera). If you can't see it on the big screen, track it down on netflix.

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