Simon

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.

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 an unlikely friendship. Right at the start of it you learn that one of them is gay and polite, and the other is an outspoken, humorous heterosexual that has cancer, and might die sometime soon. The movie then goes back and forth along some fourteen years, starting with the day these guys met.

Sounds simple? You are in for some surprises. This is not just a film about a guy that is quite obnoxious and irresistibly lovely at the same time. It is also about being yourself, shy or not, and living in a country that has more tolerance to cultural diversity. But mostly about this man that always tries to do the right thing, and enjoy his life, and have a laugh with his friends, even as it looks like death might come sooner than expected. I love this guy. And the Netherlands never looked that much beautiful on film.

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.

SIMON is a little jewel of a film. In a manner more typically Dutch than most it is an exploration of the interaction of two men, opposites in almost every way except in their potential power of friendship.

Camiel is a gay, tender, polite, dental student while Simon is straight, seemingly critical of gay aspects (though always with tongue in cheek), noisy, outspoken, crafty, boisterous and a bit crude café owner. The two collide in an accident, an act that bonds them inextricably, and the film shows the two polar opposites reconnecting fourteen years later when Simon is dying of cancer and calls upon all his resources and involves Camiel in the difficult process of life's ending. Simon's strength of character (despite his previous outwardly bombastic and crude manner) gives Camiel much to learn - and gives the audience some touching and tender thoughts on which to dwell. The film is a fun, at times naughty, smart, and ultimately life-affirming tale about the importance of friendship and family...and a strong sense of humor...that are the stuff that allow us to survive even the most difficult of moments in life.

The entire cast is excellent but the performances by Cees Geel as Simon and Marcel Hensema as Camiel Vrolijk are worthy of awards. This is an extravagantly fun film, completely open and honest about its sexuality, that results in a memorable emotional experience for the viewer. In Dutch with English subtitles. Grady Harp