De surprise

I liked the leads except when one of them was speaking English and had a terrible accent.

The gardener was also good, but some of the other characters were rather wooden.

Some nice twists and turns in the story and some nice buildings and cars to look at.

At two or three points I laughed a lot, but not the whole way through.

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.

In the hands of a typical Hollywood studios this would be a watered down formula movie, but I found the drama to stand out the most. It's a mistake to simply call this a romantic comedy. It is first and foremost a drama starting out as an examination of people in pain. And slowly embracing the quirky yet twisted predicament that ensues.

I casually came across this film and decided to watch it since I really do enjoy most foreign films. I'm always pleasantly surprised by them and tend to appreciate them more than I do recent American cinema. I WILL NOT give anything away. The movie's title definitely lived up to its name. It helps that I didn't know anything whatsoever about the actors, the director, the core plot, etc. Beautifully and masterfully done. It was a great way to spend an afternoon. This film should not be missed, most especially by those of us who enjoy quirky characters and equally quirky plots. I genuinely loved this film!! Highly recommended!

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.