Simon

Extraordinary film with great humor and witty conversations. I was swept of my feet before the first 5 minutes were over. Yes, the movie is very funny - I had tears in my eyes from laughing - but sometimes the tears that had started from laughter, remained to be there because of the sadness of Simon's illness...

It's pace is quite fast, it's very difficult to get bored in viewing it. The play of lead actor Cees Geel is excellent, as viewer you fall in love with this guy from the start and won't be disappointed about him as the movie proceeds. He plays a very humorous and positive guy, who's a bit macho, but also very sweet. People around him are regularly been given a big smile on their faces.

But also Marcel Hensema is playing very convincingly as the gay Camiel who's studying to become a dentist. He's a bit more introvert than Simon, but he and Simon fit well together in both fun and conversations on life's issues and become very close friends.

I guess the movie is filled with typically Dutch issues. The nudeness and joints are all over the screen, but also the way conversations are held on being gay (Camiel) and how to deal with Cancer (Simon) could be seen as open-minded (or controversial?) Dutch.

All and all I found this movie highly entertaining while it touched some heavy emotions at the same time.

This movie is about a wide variety of emotions, topics and people. The dialogs are brilliant. Simon has a hilarious sense of humor, but his character, like the others in the movie, is still very well portrayed. All typical dutch subjects like gay-marriage, soft-drugs, euthanasia, etc., are handled in a way that it is still convincing. The last part, where euthanasia becomes the main topic, is where the movie rises above a good comedy and becomes a great comedy/drama instead. The acting in the last part is so brilliant that it almost feels like it is shot for real.

Certainly a movie to recommend, and I think that even when it is translated (with a possible loss of dialog)it is still a movie worth seeing! But see a subtitled version and not a synchronized voice-over version, for the latter will be terrible

We just saw this film at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Yes, we are Americans and tend to be less evolved than others when it comes to certain things. But the audience - young, old, straight, gay - stood and cheered at the end of the film, and for good reason. This was one of the finest movies I have ever seen. I enjoyed the characters, especially Camiel and obviously Simon (how could you not like him?), and the conversational aspect of the movie was fantastic. It tackled some issues that we don't always feel comfortable with, but it certainly wasn't "in your face" material. I'm hoping to be able to see it again someday, maybe even find it somewhere on DVD.

This film is extremely well elaborated. Without spoiling the movie for you, basically, Simon is a sad story between a drug-dealing, "living la vida loca" young man, and a gay man he unexpectedly met.

14 years later, they meet again, but this time, the situation is totally different.

The filmmakers do an excellent job at the beginning of the movie, that is, making people dive deep into the story, the characters and the general atmosphere. This has as consequence, later after the middle of the movie, that the filmmakers start playing with the audience's emotions, leveraging on all the details presented during the beginning to force the audience into the main topic of the movie.

The second half of the movie is the sad part of it. There, the lives of all the people involved are bound together by an unexpected tragedy. The film has an obvious ending, but during that time, the audience's feelings and emotions are constantly touched and moved. This emotional play is perfect for the deep meanings of the movie: a reflexion and the presenting of different perspectives of homosexuality, drugs, sex and eutanasia.

I saw Simon in the cinema and it was a fantastic experience. Simon is a summary of Dutch culture and especially the Amsterdam subculture. The actors are all standouts in this movie and have the performances of their careers. I agree with previous comments that Cees Geel's performance was Oscarworthy. I watch movies everyday and I must say Simon was the best I have seen in YEARS! First of all, Simon is about Holland. Holland was once famous for windmills, cheese, tulips and wooden shoes. These days we (the Dutch) are famous for gay marriage, euthanasia, legalized prostitution, legalized marihuana use and islamofascist murders. In other countries themes like these give people the feeling of a modern Sodom & Gomorra.

This movie sets the right mood from the start. It is a commercial for modern, Western liberal countries where everyone can be their full self. Simon is a drug dealing, swearing, unemployed guy, who sheets on his girlfriend. Yet, you cannot dislike him! He is charismatic, funny, good at heart and completely original. His friendship with Camiel is somehow weird, as he is a gay, shy dentist student. Their friendship suffers a setback and they meet back after 14 years. Camiel and Simon team up with their entire group of friends and offspring to give Simon the best last days of his life.

This movie is important, because it reflects exactly what people in the '90s wanted Holland to be. I can cry at what my country has become of these days, but I can also smile at the warm intentions of what it once inspired to be. People all over the world, watch this movie! It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, but it will also make you think.

Eddy Terstall thank you for this fantastic achievement. This movie will be remembered someday and be seen as an international classic.