In Hermanus's sophomore feature we receive a character study about a repressed Afrikaner homosexual family-man, who starts obsessing about his nephew. A movie focused solely on the main character, not a likable man by any length due to his bubbling volcanoes of sexual frustration coupled with a culturally inflicted hate towards moffies (gays) and blacks.
Enough said that the rating means I liked the movie, despite it's slow pacing and vague storytelling. I must say however that my review is more a direct response to JvH48 review, which I found very lacking and miscommunicated.
1) "An indirect result of falsely reporting his car stolen (why?), is that uncle and nephew finally meet." After the car was stolen he reported it to his family and this resulted in his daughter being told of this fact and hurriedly ending her beach day with Christian. The uncle and nephew finally meet as the first called the latter to have him picked up.
2) "Their conversation seems not to run very smoothly, however. The dialogue falters very often, seemingly no stepping stone for meeting again." Their conversation was not intended to run smoothly. It was supposed to be awkward for Christian.
3) "Nevertheless, they continue talking in the uncle's hotel room (why?)." Christian wanted to borrow money from his rich uncle, hence he went with him to the hotel room to further discuss the loan. As it is between uncle and nephew he found it a natural family occurrence... Most likely the money retrieved from the bank in the penultimate scene is for Christian and his business.
4) "Though what happened in the hotel room can be expected to have severe impact on family relationships, we see no reference to it in any later scene. At least the daughter should know, given her close relation with the nephew." No. That is exactly the point. This occurrence was kept hidden within the family. The movie seems to say that in the Afrikaner culture swiping all the dirt under the carpet is just a way of life. Hence apart from Christian's family cutting ties with Francois and his family the attempted rape had no direct consequences.
4) "For example, the uncle buys an IPod (with o) for this nephew, after hearing that he was in need of an IPad (with a). We see him carrying the IPod along all the time, but never gets the chance to hand it over and have his mistake exposed." Why? Why did the mistake have to be exposed? The iPod served it's purpose as an symbol of Francois's obsession.
5) "And with this closing scene still on our minds, we were sent home without a clue how everything ties together, nor how it makes logical sense." The movie ends with Francois paying out money, most likely to give them to Christian, given his remorse for what happened (also the scenery in the background is Cape Town, but only a knowledgeable observer would notice). After going to the bank Christian by chance sees a couple of gays kiss in a restaurant and feels envious about them and sad about his life. End movie. Everything nicely tied in together and the movie is beautifully punctuated.
Enough said that the rating means I liked the movie, despite it's slow pacing and vague storytelling. I must say however that my review is more a direct response to JvH48 review, which I found very lacking and miscommunicated.
1) "An indirect result of falsely reporting his car stolen (why?), is that uncle and nephew finally meet." After the car was stolen he reported it to his family and this resulted in his daughter being told of this fact and hurriedly ending her beach day with Christian. The uncle and nephew finally meet as the first called the latter to have him picked up.
2) "Their conversation seems not to run very smoothly, however. The dialogue falters very often, seemingly no stepping stone for meeting again." Their conversation was not intended to run smoothly. It was supposed to be awkward for Christian.
3) "Nevertheless, they continue talking in the uncle's hotel room (why?)." Christian wanted to borrow money from his rich uncle, hence he went with him to the hotel room to further discuss the loan. As it is between uncle and nephew he found it a natural family occurrence... Most likely the money retrieved from the bank in the penultimate scene is for Christian and his business.
4) "Though what happened in the hotel room can be expected to have severe impact on family relationships, we see no reference to it in any later scene. At least the daughter should know, given her close relation with the nephew." No. That is exactly the point. This occurrence was kept hidden within the family. The movie seems to say that in the Afrikaner culture swiping all the dirt under the carpet is just a way of life. Hence apart from Christian's family cutting ties with Francois and his family the attempted rape had no direct consequences.
4) "For example, the uncle buys an IPod (with o) for this nephew, after hearing that he was in need of an IPad (with a). We see him carrying the IPod along all the time, but never gets the chance to hand it over and have his mistake exposed." Why? Why did the mistake have to be exposed? The iPod served it's purpose as an symbol of Francois's obsession.
5) "And with this closing scene still on our minds, we were sent home without a clue how everything ties together, nor how it makes logical sense." The movie ends with Francois paying out money, most likely to give them to Christian, given his remorse for what happened (also the scenery in the background is Cape Town, but only a knowledgeable observer would notice). After going to the bank Christian by chance sees a couple of gays kiss in a restaurant and feels envious about them and sad about his life. End movie. Everything nicely tied in together and the movie is beautifully punctuated.