I’ll let other people have a go first.
Well, now I think I don’t have it, unless you count a sequel as a remake. But I might as well give it a go anyway: Trainspotting.
Nope! I wouldn’t say that the UK doesn’t have a big cinema tradition!
Sure, I was hoping you were treating Scotland as a separate country (and also being a little unfair to its cinematic tradition).
And now I’m all out of balcony jumps.
I will always treat Scotland as a separate country - I mean, I sing the Flower of Scotland every year during the 6 Nations tournament! But Danny Boyle is English, and even though I’m usually trying my best to be as unfair as I can to all things British, I have to admit that the UK has a very important cinema tradition.
The country we’re looking for, however, has produced only an handful of “known” movies or directors. In fact, one could argue it has hardly produced anything artistic during the last century… An enigma, really.
Missed the second to last clue, Spoorloos?
Whichever country I could come up with, it’s going to bring up a question- did they really produce almost nothing of note, or am I just unfamiliar with their output?
Yes! I knew you would get it! It is indeed Spoorloos (lit. “Traceless”), aka The Vanishing.
I knew this one had probably not be seen by too many people, but I really wanted to recommend it. It is wonderful movie. I’ve tried to choose clues that would be the least spoilery possible. I strongly advice you watch it without knowing anything from it.
As for the clues:
-
A jump from a balcony: Raymond Lemorne (lit. “the gloomy one”) explains that when he was 16, he jumped from his balcony, in order to “contradict what is written”.
-
An oath: Rex (played by a Dutch version of Dominic West) promises to the “wonderful, exquisite and almost always sweet” Saskia that he will never abandon her.
-
A well-known sporting event: our Dutch couple is visiting France during the Tour de France 1984, which can be heard many times on the radio.
-
A keychain: Saskia wants to offer Rex a new keychain, which proves to be a fateful decision.
-
A screaming contest: Lemorne asks his daughters to scream as loud as they can while they’re having lunch at the countryside house.
-
Tourists in a foreign country: our Dutch couple, Rex and Saskia, are visiting France during the summer, like many of their compatriots. Rex speaks a very good French, and Saskia has some decent basics.
-
Our movie is from a country without a big cinema tradition: well, there is Paul Verhoeven and… that’s pretty much it. As I was mentioning, during the last century, the Netherlands have not been producing much culturally to start with, which has always puzzled me. The Wikipedia article “Culture in the Netherlands” is actually quite depressing. It mentions this however:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPOmFUid3vA
-
This movie was remade some years after by the same director: George Sluizer, remade his movie five years later. I haven’t seen the remake, but it is apparently, and not surprisingly, not very good.
-
A rest area: a big portion of the first act takes place on a rest area. For me, Spoorloos “did for rest areas what Jaws did for Sharks”.
In this specific case, it is quite astonishing, really. I happen to have several very close Dutch friends, and they all agree on that as well. I always joke with them saying that the 20th century has witnessed a cultural Jewish/Mittel Europa miracle, and a Dutch cultural anti-miracle!
Cinema and music are probably the things I know the least, but to talk about something I know and appreciate more, literature, it is puzzling. Only a few writers, and even less good books. Especially for a country with this rich a history, with so many resources. It doesn’t compare favorably with other, smaller, poorer European countries for instance. Doesn’t help that the Dutch language is not getting particularly well though, being quickly replaced by English pretty much everywhere.
Sorry about the delay everyone. That’s an interesting observation about the Netherlands that never occurred to me until now, but now that I thought about it it’s actually quite staggering. Do your Dutch friends have any explanation for the lack of artistic output? Or does what they produce just not register beyond their borders? I honestly doubt the last option, as there is a healthy exchange of at least literature among European countries of all sizes.
- Smiles and frowns
- Remote work
- Crash
- Video call
- Canisters
CraigM
3057
Dutch music is pretty healthy, at least in my genres.
Ayreon, Delian, Epica, Within Temptation, Karmakanic and many more. In the prog rock and metal world the Dutch more than carry their own.
That’s an interesting insight about Dutch movies. I had thought with The Admiral/Michiel de Ruyter that Dutch cinema was roaring back, but apparently that didn’t set the box office on fire. And then there were all those erotic Dutch masterpieces that get many views on streaming sites to this day… But I suppose that heyday was back in the 1970s, judging by the hairstyles. That’s a shame, Netherlands! Get your film industry going again!
Is the next movie Moon?
A cousin of mine actually makes a decent living as an artist in Amsterdam. Maybe I should ask her opinion, but we haven’t kept in touch, so it would be weird after a decade to go “Hey, is it true your country is artistically and culturally bankrupt?”.
That certainly seems like the right answer.
Very much so, your turn!
Smiles and frowns - Gertie communicates visually with a limted set of emojis.
Remote work - Sam’s place of work is quite far from where he originated
Crash - The first Sam crashed his rover into one of the harvesters and is later discovered by his successor
Video call - The Sams engage in fake video calls with who they assume is their family based on implanted memories
Canisters - Canisters with the Helium harvested on the moon are continiously send to earth via rocket.
Cool, here’s the next one:
- A gathering of family and friends
- Iron domes
- A little off the top
- lists
- A very fast record
No takers, hence, another clue:
- true comradery and false friendships
Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope? Mainly because of the Kessel Run ;-)
Heh, while Han making the Kessel Run broke a very fast (or short?) record, it isn’t Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Or even Star Wars: Solo (A Star Wars Story).
