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It is no new theme of time travel in science fiction, that attempts to change the past for what one considers the better, often ends up making things worse. Even if the desire is just to make one simple change, subtle manipulation can have drastic consequences, and further attempts at change can mess up everything. Such is the premise of Belgian director Lukas Bossuyt's feature debut Sum of Histories. A film more in the popular than art house cinema category, it doesn't tread any new ground, but it's an enjoyable story with good performances that keeps its tale tight, to the point, and displays some good futuristic technology.Viktor (Koen de Graeve) and Theo (Robrecht Vanden Thoren) have invented a software program that, in theory, can...

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★★★★☆ Loosely based upon the real-life exploits of a physically-impaired Brit searching for intimacy, Come as You Are (2011) is a heartfelt comedy about disability and sexuality, topics sensitively-handled without tiptoeing around the more thought-provoking issues they inspire. Three twentysomething friends from Belgium with a penchant for fine wine and a yearning for female attention hit upon an idea to travel to sunny Spain where a 'specialist' brothel can help with their needs. Lars (Gilles De Schryver), who suffers from an inoperable brain tumour, spearheads the trip, although the trio's parents are reluctant to sanction such a thing.

The paraplegic Philip (Robrecht Vanden Thoren) manages to sneakily book the services of a female ex-nurse called Claude (Isabelle de Hertogh) to care for them, and together with the partially-sighted Jozef (Tom Audenaert) they head off on what they hope will be a riotous and boozy road trip. It's a simple premise which director...

Behind The Candelabra | The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone | After Earth | The Iceman | Thérèse Desqueyroux | Come As You Are | The Last Exorcism: Part II | 009 Re: Cyborg | Aguirre, Wrath Of God

Behind The Candelabra (15)

(Steven Soderbergh, 2013, Us) Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd. 118 mins

The fact that Hollywood wasn't interested in backing a story involving celebrity, dictator-style kitsch, cosmetic surgery, rhinestones, signet rings and poodles (oh, and gay people) proves once again that nobody there knows anything. Douglas is terrific as the flamboyant but needy Liberace, and this true-life relationship drama is both hilarious and empathetic, harking back to a pre-Aids era of innocence and excess. Rob Lowe's hair provides excellent support.

The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone (15)

(Shane Meadows, 2013, UK) 96 mins

If the Roses were the greatest band in the world to you, then this is probably the greatest doc in the world. Meadows,...

Review Caroline Preece 7 Jun 2013 - 07:00

A smaller film that deserves support, Caroline checks out new comedy Come As You Are...

Belgian comedy-drama Come as You Are (Hasta La Vista) is not at all the film you’d expect. When reading the synopsis – three men in their 20s travel to a brothel in Spain in the hopes of losing their virginities at last – you might be looking forward to an Inbetweeners-style comedy or a European take on the American Pie franchise and, upon learning that the three men are, in fact, disabled, you wouldn’t be blamed for doubting how funny said comedy could really be (how many times have we seen some form of disability mocked in comedies, after all?). Yet, to the film’s ultimate credit, the fact that Jozef, Philip and Lars all have a disability doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.

While it lacks...

★★★☆☆ The prospect of a trio of twentysomething virgins embarking on a sexual odyssey of a road-trip is not likely to seem unfamiliar to most cinema audiences. In Geoffrey Enthoven's Belgian comedy Come As You Are (Hasta la Vista, 2011) this potentially tired convention is given a cute twist in that each of the young men is severely disabled. As such, their voyage is more akin to that of Mark O'Brien in The Sessions (2012) than the cruder hijinks of the gross-out American Pie franchise. Avoiding over-sentimentality it proves a humorous, good natured affair which perhaps proves a little too generic but is an enjoyable ride nonetheless.

Philip (Robrecht Vanden Thoren) is a paraplegic, Lars (Gilles de Schrijver) has a debilitating terminal cancer and Jozef (Tom Audenaert) is almost completely blind. Philip and Lars are both confined to wheelchairs and Jozef uses a magnifier to see. One day, on the suggestion of a never-seen friend called Curt,...

Somewhat surprisingly Geoffrey Enthoven’s Come As You Are is not the first feature film this year to deal with the theme of disabled men losing their virginity, following on from the Oscar nominated The Sessions. However unlike the Hollywood offering, this Belgian picture takes something of a more comedic approach, lightly depicting the trials and tribulations of three handicapped guys embarking on a mission to lose their virginities. Think of this as a hybrid between American Pie and Little Miss Sunshine. With added wheels.

When Philip (Robrecht Vanden Thoren), paralysed from the neck down, decides that he wants to finally have sex, he manages to persuade his two best friends Jozef (Tom Audenaert), who is blind, and Lars (Gilles De Schrijver), terminally ill with a tumour, to travel to Spain to a specialised brothel to suit their needs. However they must do so without letting their parents know of their intentions,...

Belgian director Geoffrey Enthoven won the Montreal World Film Festival's Grand Prix des Ameriques with his road comedy "Hasta la Vista!" (Come as You Are) on Sunday. This is the third time in five years that a Flemish Belgian movie has won top honors at the festival, reports Variety. "Hasta la Vista!" follows three disabled men who go on a road trip to Spain in order to visit a brothel that caters to people with disabilities. Pic starring Gilles De Schrijver, Robrecht Vanden Thoren and Xandra Van Welden also won Special Mention by the Ecumenical Jury. Taking hom the Ecumenical Prize was "David," a drama helmed by Joel Fendelman following an unusual friendship...

Belgian director Geoffrey Enthoven won the Montreal World Film Festival's Grand Prix des Ameriques with his road comedy "Hasta la Vista!" (Come as You Are) on Sunday. This is the third time in five years that a Flemish Belgian movie has won top honors at the festival, reports Variety. "Hasta la Vista!" follows three disabled men who go on a road trip to Spain in order to visit a brothel that caters to people with disabilities. Pic starring Gilles De Schrijver, Robrecht Vanden Thoren and Xandra Van Welden also won Special Mention by the Ecumenical Jury. Taking hom the Ecumenical Prize was "David," a drama helmed by Joel Fendelman following an unusual friendship...