Surprise

Director Mike van Diem is back with his new movie after 18 years.

A mother expecting her death, an emotionless son, the movie begins like this. After the death of his mother, the hero tries several methods to commit suicide, but all in vain. In search of death, he encounters some Indian people who are running a business to help to commit suicide. As usual, he meets the heroine there, who is also looking for the same. Her company brings radical changes in his emotions, he laughs, become angry and as expected hope of life grows in him. Now he needs to get rid of the killers or at-least a delay. The plot is similar to Malayalam movie "Kaakkakkum Poochakkum Kallyaanam". The amazing treatment along with the smaller and bigger "Surprises" makes this movie unique and a different experience.

There are some unique similarities with the director's previous movie "Karakter". The absence of love or in this case, he has a glass barrier between him and the real world. The hero grows up without the presence of his father is also a common factor. Beautiful visuals, production design, actors are the great highlights of the movie.

A lovely movie Worth a watch.

Surprisingly good.

Just when you thought that.

I loved the quirkiness and the rain. Both of which, combined with the hero who can't feel emotions, reminded me of Garden State, one of my fav romantic comedies.

There is a huge plot hole--the funeral home had no idea that our hero, Jacob, played by Jeroen van Koningsbrugge was going to come in and purchase their services that day. Yet, the plot hinges on them knowing. But I was willing to overlook that loose end as the rest of the movie was perfect.

Our hero was so out of it that he had no idea how he spent his days and had to ask the gardener, what he did on Fridays. BTW, the Gardener, Muller, played by Jan Decleir plays a very pivotal role in the movie.

Essentially, facing his death, Jacob had an awakening when he meets a beautiful woman--who wants to end her life too. And suddenly he could laugh, and get angry and enjoy dancing, all of the things that eluded him before. As he explained it, there was a "wall" between him and the rest of the world.

Intriguingly, Georgina Verbaan, embodying Anne de Koning, delivered a powerful performance, skillfully capturing the essence of a character seeking solace in the face of not belonging. The chemistry between Verbaan and Jeroen van Koningsbrugge subtly and believably fueled the hero's transformation, offering a poignant narrative of newfound purpose sparked by their fateful encounter.

I went to see The Surprise with no expectations, not high not low, but unfortunately I ended up being disappointed. The Surprise is a Dutch romantic comedy with a dark tone, that (for me) failed to be entertaining. For start, being a comedy I didn't find it very funny but what made this film a disappointment is the following: the plot is somewhat predictable from very early on i the movie and the acting is weak at many parts of the movie.

I wouldn't classify this title as a bad movie, but certainly for me it's not a film worth the cost of the ticket. Find something else to watch, watch it at home at most.

My expectations were low because of the trailer, but this dark comedy was both less dark and less predictable than I expected, and honestly one of the best foreign language films I've seen in a long time. The direction is tight and just about perfect. You can see the influence of both Wes Anderson and Francis Veber in it, especially in the atmosphere, but unlike WA it isn't so over the top as to take you out of the movie, and the comedy is less broad than in a FV film.

Jeroen van Koningsbrugge is completely believable in the title role, and while Georgina Verbaan's role is less complex she does have the difficult task of being a compelling romantic target for a without falling into a classic trope, and I would say she got it spot-on. The other actors are fine in roles that however are fairly one-dimensional

Visually the movie is stunning, and it has some great cars; don't watch it on a small screen if you can avoid it. An American remake would probably make it all about the car chases, which here are just the right length.

I wish Mike van Diem had more film credits, but apparently Hollywood sucked his soul and he spent 15 years recovering. The Surprise was a hell of a comeback.