BEST. COPSHOW. EVER. It’s called Baantjerand it’s set in Amsterdam, a gloriously scenic Amsterdam where it rarely rains and its inhabitants – a rich interactive tapestry of cops, penose, squatpunks, Suri-Vlaamse hipsters, Yugo mafia types, e-clubbers, admen, real estate speculators, prostitutes and fishmongers – all run the risk of being murdered at any moment.
Happily those Amsterdammers that do get offed can rest in peace with the knowledge that police detective De Cock (’ceeooceekaa‘) – played by Piet Römer using a static minimalism that he fine-tuned as a celebrated interpreter of Beckett plays – will unmask the perpetrator through sheer doggedness and a Zen-like tolerance of all who he encounters within the victim’s milieu. Watching Baantjer is like putting on an old comfortable sweater: one that begins with a bloody corpse and then ends with a flashback of the bloody act while De Cock explains to his wife and colleagues, during a gezellig dinner at his home, how he managed to put his finger on the pulseless pulse.
But the most charming part of the show occurs about 37 minutes in when De Cock goes to his favourite Red-Light local (Cafe Lowietje which is in fact located on a very quiet Jordaan street, 3e Goudsbloemdwarsstraat) to ruminate over a ‘cognackje’ and to shoot the shit with his pal the bartender who acts as a local gossip encyclopaedia. At one point, a usually inane comment from this bartender triggers a dramatic swoop in the soundtrack and a subtle glimmer in De Cock’s eye that works to tell the now happily hypnotized viewer: EUREKA! Other recurring elements that makes the show more about blissful familiarity than elbow-chewing suspense are: De Cock’s smartass sidekick Vledder nursing a hangover, De Cock’s petty-minded boss screaming ‘Get Out!’ after De Cock subtly makes him aware of his own stupidity, and product placement in the form of Yakult yoghurt drink (in earlier seasons) or Lipton Cup-A-Soup (in later seasons). As bonus, the acting is in fact quite fine and the script quite well researched – though the latter is probably aided by the fact that many of the shows are based on the books by a former Warmoesstraat cop Appie Baantjer (books that in the English translations curiously transform ‘De Cock’ into ‘De Kok’).
But the real star of the show remains the setting: Amsterdam rarely looks sweeter. It makes you proud to be an Amster-burger. Perhaps it’s just the pacing: the calm slow pans of gables, water, parks and trams that actually hold to the speed limit. It’s an idealized vision of Amsterdam you can turn to when you are too lazy to bike through the rain to see it for yourself.
RTL4 is currently prescribing the Xanax of copshows on Saturday nights.
Believe the hype. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is indeed an amazing documentary — Spinal Tap come to life. Some of the lines are just so perfect, it’s hard to believe it’s not scripted. But once you meet these guys you know that it is not scripted just very very true. Actually this film would probably be too painful to watch if you don’t know that this documentary finally brought their career to life and they’re doing some major touring again. Oh Canada! So just download it, rent it or go this week to the Melkweg Cinema for the full volume impact.
My pals, the Anacondas, just released this great new video that comes backed with a heart-warming story from the world of subsidies. After trying to get a relatively straight arts subsidy to make this video, they gave up and instead got one that ties in art with education — apparently that’s where the funding money is these days. For a week, the band worked with teen students building props and filming stock. The results speak for themselves as another solid bit of evidence that — yes indeed — the kids are alright…
With the world’s largest documentary film festival IDFA opening this weekend, let’s take a moment to pay tribute to the forgotten masses who have been working the last weeks in subtitler sweatshops found across town in dank basements and dusty attics. So instead of feeling sorry for all those overhyped masses of call center workers, take a moment to give thanks to all those selfless subtitlers out there who make this event possible…
It’s also worth checking out T_Visionarium Open City (pictured) at the Zuiderkerk (an ancient church worth visiting in its own right as Amsterdam’s urban planning center). This installation, running until 22 November, bends the mind as a 360 degree 3D — complete with glasses — projection of hundreds of films about urbanisation. Browse, watch, remix, repeat. Really quite trippy…
Posted: November 21, 2009 at 10:02 am. Add a comment
This Thursday head on down to the Filmmuseum for a screening of Heisser Sommer — an East German musical from 1968.
“Once upon a time in the East, there was a Bloc-buster of a film genre — one that the unrestrained could call the ‘The Red Commie Musical’. These films came packed with tunes, drama, dance, romance, sheer wackiness and — most endearing for the modern Western viewer — a solidly alien conception. Who knew musicals could help sell the idea of a worker’s paradise?…”
This evening my pals The Anacondas (stay tuned for their new album, Lost in the Space Age/Bad Buzz, which I’m working on with them) are performing in the epic City Archives. They are providing a live soundtrack to the classic Japanese B-movie King Kong vs Godzilla as part of the inspired Rocket Cinema festival (where you can also catch zZz accompanying Frankenstein in an ancient church and DJ Alec Smart doing Jaws in a swimming pool).
Tonight’s happening is being jumpstarted by the hilarious short, Godz***A Vs The Netherlands, by another pal Sietske Tjallingii. Should be cultural. And if you haven’t yet been to the new-ish City Archive, just go: some parts are like entering an Egyptian mummy crypt. Yes, scary.
BREAKING NEWS… While I was working on the StrangerFestival newspaper (see here), word got out about me having been typecast as anchorman in the past. So now this Saturday 17 October, I will be “Richard Ambrosius”, reporting live from the StrangerFestival’s AwardShow, along with my co-anchor “Claudine Bell” (Esther Mugambi). It will be streamed live from the StrangerFestival website between 20.30 and 23.00 (CEST). It should be slapstick…
StrangerFestival is an online forum for young European video-makers supported by the European Cultural Foundation. The website has thousands of films – all of which tell a story in under five minutes. So check it out! Everyone between ages 15 and 25 are welcome to upload their creations here. And the cool thing about StrangerFestival is that they run workshops across Europe for youth who don’t usually have access to the required technology so they are creating a truely diverse collection. This week the best of these video-makers are swooping down on Amsterdam for some quality hanging out. With Your Local Heroes, I worked on the programme newspaper and it was pretty funny talking/emailing with some of the participants. Two guys — one from Armenia and the other from Poland — could have been twins in the way they answered with the same smartass verve. Yep, perhaps there is a European identity after all… Poster design/art direction by Jannemieke Oostra.
Between 17 September and 4 November, the Filmmuseum is having a retrospective on everyone’s favorite indie film icon, the writer/actor/director John Cassavetes.
“What would life be like living in a John Cassavetes film? Well there’s one advantage: you’d almost always have a strong drink in your hand. But alas there’s a catch: you will eventually get drunk. Stupid drunk. In fact, chances are that you are an unsympathetic middle-aged alcoholic simmering with raw emotion but forever incapable of expressing it. And that’s always a bummer…
“Life would seem fragmentary, unpolished and often overlong (if not downright boring). There would be few easy answers and plenty of open endings. Many things will be in close-up – especially when you are moaning after being punched, bleeding from getting pricked or experiencing loneliness like a kick in a place where it hurts the most. The dubious lighting will either have you glowing in over-exposure or disappearing into a shadow. The equally shitty sound quality would only have one advantage: background noise may sometimes cover up the fact that you are continuing to talk even though you have nothing to say…” [Read more here.]
Posted: September 15, 2009 at 10:56 am. Add a comment
This Thursday head on down to the Filmmuseum for a screening of 
This evening my pals 
Between 17 September and 4 November, the Filmmuseum is having a 