european-films.net

european-films.net is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Boyd van Hoeij
Rating Title/Year Author
O'Horten (2007) Boyd van Hoeij The decidedly Nordic -- though not at all glacial -- O'Horten is a mixture of sweetness and deadpan that proves the Kaurismäki/Andersson school of filmmaking still has new delights in store. EDIT
Posted Aug 16, 2009
The Country Teacher (2008) Boyd van Hoeij This small, contemporary Czech marvel showcases two bright talents and a sentiment not seen often enough on screen nowadays: sincerity. EDIT
Posted Aug 14, 2009
Boogie (2008) Boyd van Hoeij Three 30-somethings relive their gloriously lurid college days for one night only in Radu Muntean's Boogie, a restrained and honest look at the male midlife crisis in an embryonic state. EDIT
Posted Jan 20, 2009
Un secret (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Makes for compelling viewing despite many familiar elements. EDIT
Posted Sep 6, 2008
A Girl Cut in Two (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Snappy timing, focused writing and pitch-perfect acting. EDIT
Posted Aug 11, 2008
Ca$h (2008) Boyd van Hoeij Feels more like a cheap hypermarché knock-off with a fancily designed label than the real deal. EDIT
Posted Jul 2, 2008
Mataharis (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Having three different protagonists is perhaps too much, as Bollain and Rodríguez' screenplay only succeeds in reducing each woman's story to its soap-opera essentials. EDIT
Posted Jun 30, 2008
Moscow, Belgium (2008) Boyd van Hoeij Crossover hits from Flanders are rare and Flemish working-class romantic comedies even less so, but van Rompaey may have actually made both when he made Aanrijding in Moscou (Moscow, Belgium). EDIT
Posted Jun 25, 2008
Tulpan (2008) Boyd van Hoeij The details of the exotic trappings on display may be relatively new but the rites-of-passage story is as old as civilisation itself in Tulpan, a timeless and endearing coming-of-age tale for the Story of the Weeping Camel crowd. EDIT
Posted Jun 24, 2008
Il Divo (2008) Boyd van Hoeij The uncrowned king of post-war Italian politics, Giulio Andreotti, might be the subject of Paolo Sorrentino's nominal biopic Il Divo, but it is as an incisive portrait of Italian politics in general that it impresses. EDIT
Posted Jun 24, 2008
Gomorra (2008) Boyd van Hoeij The Neapolitan mafia, known as the Camorra, gets the Syriana treatment in Matteo Garrone's Gomorra (Gomorrah), one of the most incisive organised-crime films to emerge from any country since the 1970s. EDIT
Posted Jun 23, 2008
The Class (2008) Boyd van Hoeij Again an austere but acutely observed drama with a quasi-documentary style, Entre les murs (The Class) impresses with its veracious tone and nuanced characterisations. EDIT
Posted Jun 19, 2008
Welcome to the Land of Ch'tis (2008) Boyd van Hoeij A winner. Puts its tale of a southern postal worker hoping for a transfer to the Côte d'Azur through the very effective reverse psychology wringer when he ends up in the dreaded north instead - but discovers he loves it. EDIT
Posted Apr 25, 2008
The L Sisters (2008) Boyd van Hoeij A willingly schizoid portrait of a generation growing up on a continent where distances count for nothing but some gaps are still impossible to close. EDIT
Posted Apr 9, 2008
Paris (2008) Boyd van Hoeij After two continent-wide trips and a plunge into the French capital's underworld, French director Cédric Klapisch stays close to home and well above the ground for Paris, his valentine to the City of Lights. EDIT
Posted Mar 31, 2008
Revanche (2008) Boyd van Hoeij A meandering first half gives way to a spectacular psychological portrait of the deafening silence of pain and loneliness in Austrian writer-director Götz Spielmann's Revanche. EDIT
Posted Mar 31, 2008
Chiko (2008) Boyd van Hoeij A gentle character sketch gradually makes way for a high-energy tale of loyalty and betrayal that is perhaps rife with clichés but works because Yildirim has established his characters properly. EDIT
Posted Mar 24, 2008
Black Ice (2007) Boyd van Hoeij A showcase for Finnish acting talent and a significant step forward for Kotwica, though the closing reels of Musta Jää dilute its power as a psychological thriller in favour of plot twists more at home in a soap opera. EDIT
Posted Mar 24, 2008
Tiramisu (2008) Boyd van Hoeij Tiramisu walks a fine line between feel-good clichés and true character development, though Van der Oest finally makes it all believable because of her direction of the actors. EDIT
Posted Mar 24, 2008
Leo (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Especially the first hour of Leo is a promising debut in full-out Scandinavian drama for the comedy director after his first try at something more dramatic with his charming displaced children's tale Zozo. EDIT
Posted Mar 24, 2008
() Boyd van Hoeij This Flemish spin-off from a successful TV series never completely relinquishes its tube roots (especially in the script department) but its acting and technical prowess shout out for big-screen projection. EDIT
Posted Mar 19, 2008
Love Songs (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Are the characters completely believable? No. Are the feelings the characters talk and sing about pinpointed with a precision that seems to have become a Honoré trademark? Very much so. EDIT
Posted Mar 17, 2008
Paper Cannot Wrap Up Ember (2007) Boyd van Hoeij If the film makes quite an impact, it is because of its candidness and the way Panh creates a heart-breaking portrait of these 'women of joy' without once resorting to voice-over or off-camera remarks. EDIT
Posted Mar 12, 2008
Let the Right One In (2008) Boyd van Hoeij Quiet, touching and poetic are not normally terms associated with vampire films, but there are no better words to describe Lat den rätte komma in (Let the Right One in) from director Tomas Alfredson. EDIT
Posted Mar 12, 2008
() Boyd van Hoeij A classroom example of how to mix different genres into a coherent whole, with some of the more daring scenes -- including a planned suicide saved by a serenade on a rooftop -- working according to their own logic. EDIT
Posted Mar 12, 2008
Outside Love (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Might at first seem like the umpteenth modern update of Romeo and Juliet, though in reality Uden for kærligheden (Outside Love) tries to grapple with complex issues as a reflection of our complex times. EDIT
Posted Mar 10, 2008
Animals in Love (2007) Boyd van Hoeij The documentary Les animaux amoureux (Animals in Love) might seem cute on paper but lacks the rigour of recent documentary hits such as La marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins) and Earth. EDIT
Posted Mar 10, 2008
Go With Peace Jamil (2008) Boyd van Hoeij In all likelihood, Ma salama Jamil is one of the first Dogme-inspired films mostly spoken in Arabic. EDIT
Posted Mar 3, 2008
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) Boyd van Hoeij 'Enormous crowd-pleaser' and 'directed by Mike Leigh' were not phrases this critic ever thought he would be putting together in the same sentence, but Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky is exactly that. EDIT
Posted Mar 3, 2008
Quiet Chaos (2008) Boyd van Hoeij Grimaldi, Moretti and their co-screenwriters have cunningly opened up the narrative cinematically. EDIT
Posted Mar 3, 2008
Filth and Wisdom (2008) Boyd van Hoeij A grungy ensemble piece that casts a fascinating spell despite its many shortcomings, Madonna's directorial debut Filth and Wisdom is equal parts naughty and nice (or filthy and wise, as the title would have it). EDIT
Posted Mar 1, 2008
The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2007) Boyd van Hoeij The greatest indication that a director is in complete control of his material is when everything seems to be casually in the right place, which certainly seems to be the case in Les amours d'Astree et de Celadon. EDIT
Posted Feb 28, 2008
The Duchess of Langeais (2007) Boyd van Hoeij It may sound like silly wordplay, but this film is nothing short of rivetting. EDIT
Posted Feb 18, 2008
The Silence Before Bach (2008) Boyd van Hoeij About as far away from a conventional composer biopic as Kraft's products are from real cheese. EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2008
Terror's Advocate (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Though the film comes with a warning that it expresses only the point of view of its director, in reality, what Schroeder seems to offer is a portrait of a glib man who simply defies any conclusive description. EDIT
Posted Jan 30, 2008
King of Ping Pong (2008) Boyd van Hoeij A pleasant if not entirely successful addition to the Scandinavian tragicomedy genre. EDIT
Posted Jan 28, 2008
Herbstzeitlosen (2006) Boyd van Hoeij As a grey-haired feel-good movie, the film is a winner. But who thinks this might be Calendar Girls with mountains is wrong; it never quite reaches that level of sophistication or bite. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2008
Ben X (2007) Boyd van Hoeij It would be hard to guess from the final result that Balthazar has never made a film before; Ben X takes full advantage of all that the medium has to offer. EDIT
Posted Jan 18, 2008
The Fox and the Child (2007) Boyd van Hoeij A cute bedtime story that features spectacular photography and unaffected performances from both protagonists. EDIT
Posted Jan 14, 2008
() Boyd van Hoeij Tatt av kvinnen is much like a musical but only without the songs; the form has to be accepted no questions asked for the film to function. And any detected realism is surely unintended. EDIT
Posted Dec 20, 2007
Inside Planet Earth (2008) Boyd van Hoeij Mix the grave but clear message of An Inconvenient Truth with the alternatively raw and cute look at wildlife of La marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins) and you will get Earth, a bona fide documentary hit. EDIT
Posted Dec 13, 2007
Eduart (2007) Boyd van Hoeij The true interest of Eduart lies in the way it offers an Albanian immigrant's point of view as presented through Greek eyes, with the Stockholm syndrome and Freudian and ancient Greek concepts playing out in the background. EDIT
Posted Nov 21, 2007
Le fils de l'épicier (2007) Boyd van Hoeij The lead actors are hot and the living is easy in the French summertime idyll Le fils de l'epicier (The Grocer's Son). EDIT
Posted Nov 5, 2007
Summer '04 (2006) Boyd van Hoeij If Krohmer and Knocke meticulously crafted the world Miriam inhabits, it is Gedeck's presence that makes it such a tangible mess -- which is meant as high praise indeed. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2007
Vivere (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Vivere is a study in contrasts that, though it has a somewhat laborious narrative structure, continues Maccarone's ascent as a strong new voice in European cinema. EDIT
Posted Oct 29, 2007
In Mom's Head (La tête de maman) (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Seduces with a surprisingly dense narrative and a decidedly French take on the role of extramarital affairs and everyone's undeniable right to happiness. EDIT
Posted Oct 22, 2007
Nadine (2007) Boyd van Hoeij As a refracted psychological portrait of longed-for motherhood, Nadine offers a revealing glimpse of a subject not often seen on the big screen. EDIT
Posted Oct 22, 2007
The Secret of the Grain (2007) Boyd van Hoeij Though not all of the film's 151 minutes feel indispensable, the story and mise-en-scene of this immigrant family's daily struggles are so involving that it is still well worth seeing on the big screen. EDIT
Posted Oct 22, 2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) Boyd van Hoeij An Elizabethan-era version of the madcap energy, penny-novel intrigue and intentional historical inaccuracies of Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge!. EDIT
Posted Oct 21, 2007
Akamas (2006) Boyd van Hoeij Deftly reunites the emotional and the political, the historical and the natural into a familiar story infused with the particular details of Cypriot and Greek-language culture. EDIT
Posted Oct 20, 2007