Prins

The most notable recent Dutch contributions to cinema is a bleak slate – not for their quality, but for their content. Sam De Jong's debut Prince is no less bleak in its mid-section as it surveys the criminal underworld of Amsterdam, but it's sandwiched between blissed-out and confidently stylized coming-of-age snippets. In the minutes running down to one of the most dynamic opening credits sequences of the year, you can clearly identify the influences smeared on its sleeve. The slick neon of Nicolas Winding Refn is washed out, decomposed and infused with the teen angst of John Hughes. But this road takes the 400 Blows route to the bubbling tension of La Haine, that is until we're somehow right back to the Hughes flavour.

Half-Dutch, half-Moroccan Ayoub (played by Ayoub Elsari) is a 17 year old junkie already deep into the wrong crowd on his disadvantaged estate. His small gang of four is the junior to an older gang, including one of Ayoub's friend's brother, who thrive on constantly demeaning them. Despite the odds, Ayoub is deeply infatuated with the older gangleader Ronnie's girlfriend, Laura, complete with delightfully indulgent slo-mo every time she's on screen. The only way to win her over is to beat Ronnie at his own game by becoming the new right hand man, ala Prince, to local dealer and cool car owner Kalpa, ala King. Meanwhile, Ayoub is a source of comfort and conflict with his home life, individually supporting his lonely mother, his drug addicted father, and half-sister, who's also finding herself embroiled in the gangs.

De Jong's direction is much stronger than his script. While it's a classic underdog story that's easy to become intrigued as to how it's going to play out, the results aren't quite as satisfying as what it sets up. The story revolves around Ayoub, but it's busy with too many peripheral characters for any of them to stand out, especially what should have been a surefire winner with his dad. Therefore when it tries to grant emotional gratification, it isn't earned. Though the unfortunate lightweightness comes from Ayoub's family, they do give the film a warmth that it would otherwise seriously lack with the overly macho nature of the gang life. The cast of non-actors don't quite feel as comfortable with the affection De Jong wants them to portray which hinders the naturalism. Nevertheless, they still provide an innocent charm to the film that keeps it from feeling too gritty.

The film shines when it's time to deliver visual and aural thrills. Derivative or not, De Jong knows how to use the camera, and offers a very interesting sense of rhythm in the editing, that's both static and striking. The world is painted vividly and it's easy to get wrapped up in its dream-like style that decompartmentalizes its set of characters. The boys are obsessed with the glitz of gangster life and the pulsating 80s synth soundtrack provides the sheen and energy to match their desires. I wish it had a comment on these violent cycles of gangster hierarchy as it instead shies away from lingering senses of menace in the third act. The film is less than 80 minutes long and its sense of finality feels unsteady from numerous loose ends. Prince is still an impressive but incomplete debut up to that point and as far as Refn comparisons are concerned, I really wouldn't have minded if Ryan Gosling made this instead of whatever Lost River turned out to be.

7/10

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I'd like to make it clear that I came to this movie a little late (I'd say I missed the first 2 minutes) because for some reason, there was a line to buy tickets longer than the mountain pass the little engine that could think-he-canned its way through on its journey to literary stardom. After I believed hard enough I got through the line and sat down at the very back of the theatre to watch what I had struggled so mightily for.

Prince is a foreign film, which means reading subtitles, but if you don't mind that, you should definitely check out this movie.

"A troubled teenager attempts to conquer the love of his life by becoming the baddest boy on the block" -IMDB

Prince follows 17 year old Ayoub on his quest to conquer his fears, his enemies, and love. And while that IMDb synopsis for the film is true in a sense, and covers some aspects of the story, it is in no way a sound synopsis of what the movie truly is. The issues Ayoub deals with are encompasses by what is typically known as a "coming of age story", but this one is more a-typical of the traditional one dimensional characters of that genre. Chivalrous would be the best word to describe Ayoub, a boy who simultaneously takes care of his junkie father while looking out for both his half sister and their shared biological mother, with just enough time in between to hang out with his friends and lie about that girl he kissed "way back".

Visually, Prince is stunning. Shot after shot after shot. The colour palette and overall look of the movie is so tied together and "on point" that I want to devote a screen in my home to playing this movie on loop so I can always have something nice to look at. Words cannot express the beauty in every scene of this film. For this reason alone it is worth more than the price of admission. And it is also for this reason that this movie is now one of my favourites. (And it also has a wicked soundtrack)

Despite all this however, Prince does have its shortcomings. A rushed and forced feeling fairytale ending bog down what would have been a relatively believable and interesting story. And while this may be an unfair criticism considering Prince is an indie, low budget, young cast centric film, the acting at times is very underwhelming, but never so bad that it pulls you out out of the movie.

I would recommend Prince to anyone who is interested in indie movies, foreign films, cinematography or art direction.

Overall it is a very cool film and if you're lucky enough to have this movie showing in your city, you should see it before it's too late.

7/10

The story starts of interesting. A boy living in the challenging part of Amsterdam is getting in touch with the crime scene.

Maybe too many themes are touched in the movie; the broken home situation, a dad who is a junk, earning respect on the street as a young "gangster", protecting your family, the divorced mom looking for love, coping with death and of course falling love.

None of these themes make a real impact. The surface is only scratched. I do not feel engaged, the story fails to make an impact in the end. Perhaps the focus should be on a few events, better motivated and explained. I think for this movie the "Less is more" adagium should have been followed.

On the positive side, the cinematography is nice at times, very colorful, many great shots. The purple Diablo really stands out. The music fits the movie, it is not period correct but adds to the atmosphere. The main character does a good acting job. But overall I feel the story had more potential.

An unimaginative movie..weak storyline. Ayoub Elsari is carrying this movie completely on his own. Without him this movie would be completely void. So generic and such lack of imagination. This is what happen when nugatory suburban directors/writers lack imagination and just decide to make a make a movie about inner city youth. (or anything else for that matter) Most times it's a miss, and also makes for certain ridiculous directing/casting.(for instance the older 'thug' guys from the neighbourhood were 30+. which felt laughably fake. Also what they were presented to be.) Ridiculous and seems to happen a lot in Dutch movies. Anyway..if you watch this, do it for the natural acting of Ayoub Elsari..also some nice visuals here and there.