User reviews

Kids, A Better Tomorrow, Alpha Dog...we've seen it before...a group of teenagers who are living lives outside of their parents' knowledge, discovering themselves, indulging in sexual behavior and criminal activity. This Belgian/Dutch spin on it wasn't bad.

The cast was very talented-although I didn't find any character likeable-but, they did their job. Still these teens are insensitive jerks, with barely no remorse for their actions, and how the "big dilemma" was handled at the end didn't make me like them any more. The ending is...interesting(in its open-ended glory). I'm assuming the controversial novel this film is based on is spectacular though.

(I will say without giving anything away: one of the main characters may have had childhood trauma that caused some of his actions in the end-but I'll say no more.)

Basically this movie is fine; if it's on Netflix check it out, but definitely don't break your neck looking for it. You've probably seen stuff like this before-this is just the Dutch version.

Eight teens - four guys and four girls - are the best of friends. One summer, out of boredom they experiment with all manner of new means to entertain themselves. This degenerates into some extreme behaviour and will lead to tragedy.

Intriguing movie, told in a way that keeps you engaged and wondering what happened. By telling the story from the perspective of several of the teens, one at a time, you get fed enough information to get a piece of the picture, but not enough for the whole picture. This creates a great sense of mystery and makes you stick around for more.

However, when everything comes together and the secret is revealed, it is a bit disappointing. The revelation is rather flat and what develops from there feels a touch implausible. Is quite topical and thought-provoking though.

Rene Eller's adaptation of a shocking novel by Elvis Peeters has all the hallmarks of its Vice co-producers sub-Mondo, faux docudrama approach. This makes for a queasy mix of wrong-headed moralising and vapid sensationalism that seems cribbed from REQUIEM FOR A DREAM.

The film has a slightly Rashomon-structure, as four of the film's gang of privileged delinquents tell their differing versions of events. The latter version is from the ringleader Thomas (played with real sleazy noxiousness by Aime Claeys), and pulls in the film's most difficult narrative strand, namely that of the perverted mayor's sex scandal. This whole section is problematically rendered, as the film seems to hint at the idea that child-sex scandals may not be about the exploitation of innocents. There is a damaging disconnect in the film between what is being shown, the way it is being shown and the wider context within which these things could be said to operate. None of this would have really been so much of an issue if Eller didn't so devotedly follow the Vice handbook and attempt to blur boundaries between factual and fictional forms of narrative address.

What is undeniable is that Eller has been able to extract strong performances from his young cast, made up mainly of non-professionals. It is a shame then, that the material to which their great efforts have been put to the service of, is so trivially worked out. A little less fake meta-textuality and this may have been something more like Stephen Frears' BLOODY KIDS (1980).

Very satisfying movie to watch. A reminder of just how wide this world is we live in, aside from how deep it is. A strange story of eight teenagers getting up to no good in a foreign version of rebelling. The story is told and retold by different members of the 8. With each retelling the absurd becomes believable, and this even though each version is different. These kids use sex to hurt, but they don't realize it at first. A marvelous story and direction.

The film tries to portray a story of young adolescent people discovering life while engaging in all kinds of debauchery. The vile acts that are shown are partly based on events that have happend in real life at some point. Dissapointingly this is merly used to create shock value for the audience and as the story progresses none of the disturbing acts have a carthartic element to them. When you take all these disturbing acts and assign them to one group of people that act like its all a big joke, they just become shallow and not interesting at all. Their motives just seem dumb and futile. I couldn't wait for it to be over.

I find the film's only redeming quality to be how a kind of psychadelic form of cinematography was used, where you as the viewer feel confused as if you delve into the psychotic minds of these kids and how incoherent their story's about the events that took place are from each other. At least that is how I interpreted it.

Having no knowledge of this film and seemingly stumbling upon it, "Wij" was quite different in comparison's to the typical Hollywood films we see today.

The story is quite depressing and the characters for the most part are unlikeable (mainly the lead male along with the two lead females). What made very little sense is how there were 8 of them yet none of them had any sense to stop doing what they were doing. Of course something tragic was bound to occur.

The storytelling dealing with four of the main eight characters retelling their version of what occurred was quite well done. These four stories seemingly range from tamest to most disturbing in order- Part 1 relatively tame, while Part 4 is the most disturbing and vile.

This isn't a film for the faint hearted. The director definitely goes out all, pushing boundaries, such as more excessive nudity than needed (including brief unsimulated sex scenes). The acting was surprisingly convincing and good.

Without revealing anything, the end revelation or twist told by one of the characters in the finale was quite disappointing (Part 4). We watched the film up to that point only to find out, that was what really occurred. As some of the other top reviews has stated, this end payoff isn't exactly satisfactory.

This is a terrible film, depending mostly on shock value. I thought this would be a nice movie watch while drinking, but I was surely disappointed

I enjoyed watching the movie. Nice to see a movie that does not follow the cliches or take itself to seriously. I can't believe I never heard of this movie before. Way better then the over hyped "De Premier" movie.

The movie starts great, loses momentum after 1/4, but picks up halfway to the end. The scenes were well done, but the way they combine was a bit messy, that is my only complaint.

Very good acting, the 8 kids were played very convincingly.

Overall great and entertaining movie, not the best, but a breath of fresh air in times were lots of mediocre movies come out all the time.

Difficult to understand even if you are Dutch speaking, as a certain quantity of spoken Dutch is in a local dialect. The script and directing are also way below standard.

Safe to say that this film is not worth seeing, even if it is based on fact. The only thing that stands out is male and female genitalia and sex. But this cannot save this rubbish, rather, if you like that sort of thing, watch a porn movie.

I didn't really get the point of "Wij". Was it just to pruriently show the sex lives of its teenage protagonists? Perhaps. But the movie makes no attempt at eroticism, and the full frontal nudity takes us by surprise because there's no build up to it. It appears to be trying to show us how everyday this behaviour is for its characters, and at that I guess it makes its point. But what is the wider point?

Eight teenagers - four boys and four girls - engage in increasingly depraved sexual behaviour during a hot summer in Belgium. The girls, particularly, seem to have no regard to their rights to their own bodies, flashing their bushes at oncoming cars (and causing a pile-up in the process) and playing games in which foreign items are inserted you-know-where. At one stage, somebody pretends to listen to earbuds that have their cord inserted into someone else's vagina.

The movie also features a death-by-insertion that may have to be seen to be believed.

So, that's the movie. The characters remain totally undifferentiated throughout. They never emerge with personalities or motivations. You don't even know who you're looking at half the time.

This material is the kind of thing US director Larry Clarke makes, and comparing it to his material reveals its limitations ever more. Clarke would have chosen a gritty photographic approach to the material, and may also have based the movie off a true story, to give it much needed weight.

As is, "Wij" is pretty forgettable.

It doesn't really have a story and it's not trying it either. It's basically wanting to show how one can make audience feel disgusted and act like it's so intellectually thought provoking, while it truly isn't. It even won awards for that which proves how low IQ the reviewers were. Anyone can make these kind of movies and weave a philosophical, psychological turn of events it can be claiming it as art.

It's a smart way of filmmaking to make you feel disgusting, self question but it's pretentious, deliberate, and false filmmaking. Award committee fell for it treating it as great film as such. It's not. Anyone can do these kind of movies. Just be incoherent, pointless, conflicting your nihilistic realistic ideas and tada. It's like after you went for a party and puked the next day, that puke is given to you claiming it's a new drink. That's what this movie is and trying to present it like look we found something unique, new form of art. That's the whole thing of this movie goal was.

The movie is in four parts, each one focusing on one of the characters. Three of the women, and one for a man. So one gets a better insight into some of the roles. In the beginning, there is a court trial that clearly is of some importance. We meet eight teenagers, four males and four females, who simply want to have fun, make money, and not care about anyone else. Their hormones are raging, and it is clear what is on their minds. They are bored, and decide porn is a way to make money. They do some very nasty things which causes serious harm, even death, but laugh it off. Things start taking a very dark turn without consequences, except for a tragedy and what they then do has the biggest impact.

The subtitle to this very Dutch movie is "A Summer Odyssey In 4 Parts," and the Dutch title "Wij" simply translates into the English "We," & so, this is a movie about the group of - is it friends, lovers, what? These youths do everything together - everything - 4 young men & 4 young women. They are nude together & they are clothed together. Incidentally, if you are offended by nudity, skip this movie - when I said this movie is very Dutch, I meant VERY Dutch & it portrays the cheerful acceptance of nudity characteristic of the Dutch.

But do they break up into monogamous couples, the way American youths would? No, there is the group of 8, & there is sexual fluidity amongst the 8. Just who is in love with whom? If there's any Love whatsoever!

The main male character says, "It was a weird summer; we wanted to discover the world; it was ALL ABOUT PLEASURE!" And his quotation will pretty much tip you off as to whether you're likely to enjoy this movie or not.

These are upper-class youths - who can pretty much afford to do whatever they please, whatever they please often means having casual sex. Their parents appear to not want to know precisely what their kids are doing - as long as they're not in the morgue, the hospital, or the police station.

The viewer should be aware that the exposition of the story (to the extent that there is a story) is moved gradually forward by short snippets of phone conversations between the youths & their parents, & the viewer becomes aware that they're talking about "the case" & "court appearances." This reviewer will not reveal much more specifically about this, but clearly, something has gone tragically wrong in the Dutch Pleasure Paradise.

One can not discuss "Wij" without bringing up the subject of prostitution. Where the film "Risky Business" was somewhat cute & fun regarding its attitude to prostitution, "Wij" winds up becoming darkly serious, & that dark turn is of necessity. (This reviewer does not want to reveal too much of the story).

To let the prospective viewer gain some notion of what "Wij" will be like, this reviewer will reveal that the 8 willingly participate in a cosplay orgy where anything goes, as long as it's heterosexual (no queers need apply).

The pretty character Ruth, reflecting on all the sex & the prostitution comments, "I felt like I was standing above the world!" Still another female character remarks, "I excelled at something! I turned men on!"

It is problematic for this reviewer why young adults from upwardly mobile families would turn to prostitution, & perhaps worse, why the 8 would hatch the ambition of creating their own cottage-industry porn site on the Internet, where the young women are likely to be the cutest porn stars available to web surfers.

If you're thinking to yourself, "But The Netherlands is a very progressive country!", you can forget that, as far as power dynamics between the young men & young women go. Perhaps it will startle you to discover that none of the young women ever think to ask their male counterparts to start hustling - or, if the guys object to gay sex - why don't the young women urge the guys to offer themselves up as gigolos?

What starts out with 8 beautiful, young adults running joyfully nude together through a grassy meadow turns bitter and dark.

How did they forfeit their youthful, erotic sincerity? How did it come to pass that their bodies are no longer living, breathing works of Art?

Why did they willingly commodify their naturally occurring sex appeal?

You'll have to watch "Wij" yourself to hunt for clues.

I rate this film very highly, but understand, it is a very sad - not a joyful - movie!