Zaman

This is an excellent film. It tells the typical story of a non-conformist city-( Antwerp)-police-detective worn out by the city and his job and having to team up with a young flash new partner from the province.Of course he has to have trouble in his private life as well... A cliché, yes, but so was Maigret, and you never tire of him. The beauty of this work lies in the sincerity of the story and its characters. The actors in the film ( with the notable exception of Herbert Flack who is a spectacular ham) are all perfectly credible and speak and act as any real person would. Marc Jansens' performance as the title character is spot on and his understated reading of the role make him a maverick in Belgian movies.

Zaman may not be a Palme d'Or winner but it's a great little film and its influence can be traced in many of Belgian 'tranche-de vie' type TV series and cinema film on cops and crime. (some of the crooks depicted in the film are none too loosely based on real life gangsters).