Import

Without a lot of explanation, this short film introduces us to a family of outsiders in a small Dutch community. The husband tries to get the TV in the house working. The mother works in a cleaning job. The two children face cruelty at school. Across these three places we see a mix of the slightly offbeat or comedic but served on top of a very meditative film. Part of this is it being so slow at what it does - and it is slow; I liked it, but it is too long for what it does and it didn't need to be so deliberate throughout. It just about works though as long as you go with it, and it is reasonably easy to go with as you get drawn in understanding the situation, and with the detail of each scene.

It pays off pretty well at the end, and the presentation (framing, design etc) of the film adds interest. I'm not sure all of it speaks to the point it is trying to make about the immigrant experience - it gets there but with the slow pace and the lack of easy hook early on, I did wonder how many viewers it will have managed to retain, particularly now that the film is out of the festival realm and fighting for views online.