Holiday

I get what Holiday is trying to do but it took far too long to get there. The world we occupy is not the same for all people. Indeed, people are compartmentalized and some simply belong together for better or worse.

In this case a sadistic Danish gangster and his seemingly innocent, young, gold digging, lover are not so far removed from one another as first impressions may suggest. Neither is normal. They share a violent, at times sadistically abusive, dysfunctional relationship that feeds off itself and binds them together. Much as they might resemble normal people they can't make the adjustment to the world outside of their twisted dynamic. When one of them tries, it ends badly and bloodily.

Its an interesting concept but its overly long lead in, where the ground is always shifting between perceived normalcy and sudden, abrupt brutality, is overdone. When this film does finally get where it inevitably has to go, its dissipated a lot of its energy, leaving the ending feeling a little anti-climatic.

In short, there's a lot to like here its a well crafted, unsettling experience but its approach needed to be reworked. In a sense it over explains itself and could have had more impact had it been shorter and more succinct. 6/10 from me.

Holiday, Bodil Award winner for Best Film of 2018, is an interesting work. Set in an idyllic paradise, we see feel-good scenes like topless sunbathing, waterpark excursions, ice cream and dancing (it's a holiday!) but we can never shake the vibe of disturbing undertones. The plot follows Sasha, a drug dealer's girlfriend, and gives us an understated window into the world view of a battered woman. That violence manifests itself in a shocking and unexpected way in the conclusion.

Stylistically, this film is a triumph: Cheerful imagery with that sense of dread hanging over everything. The performances aren't at their best in English, but Holiday is worth some contemplation. I've seen viewers profess shock at its sexuality, but above all Holiday is a statement on violence.

I kept waiting for something ANYTHING interesting to happen in this slow walking piece of cinematic dreck. Alas Nothing. Oh wait the heroine gets slapped three times! Not nearly enough for participating in this god awful mess of a film. Someone needs to shred everyones SAG card involved in this. Please don't waste your time here - I only wish I could have mine back. Life is far too short

From the beginning of this film the technique and quietness with bold visuals really had a feel that was Von Trier esque. From the awkward car scene in the beginning I was really enthused about where this film seemed to be taking me. When I heard this flick was "Disturbing" I immediately took time to see it. Starring Victoria Carmen Sonne a multilingual mid twenties actress who seemed as though she was born for this role. The camera angles and music for the film is also marvelous so what's my problem about this film "LAZINESS" the film had potential to really dig deep into the disturbing area it grew amazing long legs and just refused to stand up. Yes theres an Unsimulated sex scene that I'm pretty sure her whole family will never get over after watching and I'm pretty sure the R-rating doesn't cover this extreme scene that even shows fluids but besides that and another lack luster 1 minute scene this film was as tame as they cum... No pun intended. The movie also speaks atleast 3 different languages and the subtitles were in Dutch and there accents were so thick it was very difficult to keep up with there broken english. There wasn't really mystery involved but when you show a scene and there isn't any follow up to why things happened it's just creating a scene for the sake of a scene, No backstory No revelations that come later what the heck was that about is what it leaves you thinking. I think if you put this much effort into creating a nerving storyline to make people uneasy those like myself who are disturbing movie fans feel like you destroyed a character who could of become memorable andwaste. wasted a perfect opportunity. Oh well the form on that shot looked perfect but your shot was an airball. Such a waste.

"Sunny but frigid" describes the feel that runs throughout this bleak character study of a young girl mixed up with unsavoury types. Overall I found it engrossing with plenty of subtle and creeping tension, quite disturbing at times but also a little redundant and oversimplified in its storytelling. Most of the characters are one dimensional almost to the point of being caricatures of gangsta tropes (the alpha male, the henchman and the women and children in the periphery). I sometimes found it hard to tell whether the shallow dialogue was down to lazy writing or whether it was intentionally lacking in depth, which I suppose did add to the cripplingly superficial tone of the film. Are they gangsters? Or just wealthy businessmen? Is there a difference? All very deep stuff. The bad side of patriarchy in general amongst wealthy Europeans, the ones that keep their family around like tokens of their power, holidaying lavishly in large groups and disturbing their surroundings.