I saw this film about two weeks ago at the request of the executive producer. It was an almost near finished version, closely resembling that which is about to be shown at the Central Dutch Film Festival in Amersfoort this coming November.
I was afraid to not be completely objective when I started watching this film. I feared that knowing the makers of it personally could influence my opinion. Luckily, it didn't. From the very first seconds, I was totally drawn into the story, and I entirely forgot that the person who was in part responsible for the film sat right next to me.
The Blue Horse is a very difficult film to categorize. Followers of the film will remember that the makers referred to the film being a horror film at one point, but I think a more accurate description would be a dramatic psychological thriller. And there is an awful lot of psychology in the film, which is meant as praise. The layers this film contains are very rich, and at a first look, I think it's impossible to fully comprehend them all.
I think this film is absolutely terrific! Everything, from to writing to the acting, from the camera-work to the music, everything works on many levels. Especially when taking into account that this film was made with very little financial and technical resources, it truly is a fantastic achievement. I think it really pays off that the director, Roald van der Laan, has tried to put an emphasis on character development, 'cause this film is carried by its three leading actors, Jasper Tonnon, Terrence Sinclair and Haruka Sugihara, who all deliver excellent performances (though my personal favourite has to be Luca Schoonheijt in an horrific scene with Jasper Tonnon, a scene that, -thanks to her awesome performance-, had my heart racing at record speed).
I would definitely recommend this film! The only real negative critique I have are technical nitpicks (especially in the audio, where the differences in background noises varied a bit too much from shot to shot, but admittedly, I'm an audio freak who notices such things), but overall: go see this film!
I was afraid to not be completely objective when I started watching this film. I feared that knowing the makers of it personally could influence my opinion. Luckily, it didn't. From the very first seconds, I was totally drawn into the story, and I entirely forgot that the person who was in part responsible for the film sat right next to me.
The Blue Horse is a very difficult film to categorize. Followers of the film will remember that the makers referred to the film being a horror film at one point, but I think a more accurate description would be a dramatic psychological thriller. And there is an awful lot of psychology in the film, which is meant as praise. The layers this film contains are very rich, and at a first look, I think it's impossible to fully comprehend them all.
I think this film is absolutely terrific! Everything, from to writing to the acting, from the camera-work to the music, everything works on many levels. Especially when taking into account that this film was made with very little financial and technical resources, it truly is a fantastic achievement. I think it really pays off that the director, Roald van der Laan, has tried to put an emphasis on character development, 'cause this film is carried by its three leading actors, Jasper Tonnon, Terrence Sinclair and Haruka Sugihara, who all deliver excellent performances (though my personal favourite has to be Luca Schoonheijt in an horrific scene with Jasper Tonnon, a scene that, -thanks to her awesome performance-, had my heart racing at record speed).
I would definitely recommend this film! The only real negative critique I have are technical nitpicks (especially in the audio, where the differences in background noises varied a bit too much from shot to shot, but admittedly, I'm an audio freak who notices such things), but overall: go see this film!
