Thursday, December 22, 2011

Sonny Boy (2011)

Sonny Boy (2011)
Sonny Boy (2011)

Genre: Drama
Director: Maria Peters
Starring: Ricky Koole, Sergio Hasselbaink, Angelo Arnhem, Daniel van Wijk
Language: Dutch, German
Duration: 130 min.
Rating: 6.0  

Summary:
The true story of the relationship between Waldemar Nods, a 19-year-old student from Suriname, and Rika van der Lans, a married Dutch woman in her 40s, and mother of 4 children. The pair meet in the 1920s, fall in love, and Rika becomes pregnant soon thereafter, causing a scandal with far-reaching consequences, leading up to World War II.



Sonny Boy is a Dutch film directed by Maria Peters, based on a novel by Annejet van der Zijl.  It is the Netherlands' official submission to the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

It's a very traditionally styled film with a grand scope that spans the early 1920's to after WWII, and combines a romantic epic with a holocaust drama.  Some might say, prime Oscar baiting material.  It does have some nice cinematography, and the period details are well done.  But unfortunately as often happens with films like this, there are rapid jumps in time that adversely affect its overall flow, and there is hardly any development of the supporting characters which leaves only the main actors to carry the film.  Ricky Koole and Sergio Hasselbaink are decent enough, but aren't what I would describe as amazing.

The impression I'm left with is of a fascinating story that is perfect for a novel, but makes for a largely unoriginal and uninspiring film.

Bonjour Tristesse

Sonny Boy (2011)

Sonny Boy (2011)

Sonny Boy (2011)

Sonny Boy (2011)

Sonny Boy (2011)

Sonny Boy (2011)

Sonny Boy (2011)

Sonny Boy (2011)

16 comments:

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I had that same feeling too at first, and normally wouldn't even watch this type of film but am dedicated to covering as many of these entries as possible.

Msmariahthemovie said...

I always enjoy interracial romance movies. I'll have to check this one out. I know this is unrelated to this post, but I'm curious if you've seen Blind Mountain?

The Reel Foto said...

i might just look for a copy of the novel...

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah it's got all the hot topics for awards baiting.  Generational gap, check!  Interracial tensions, check!  Holocaust story, check! 

NeverTooEarlyMP said...

When I first saw the trailer, I had a feeling that we'd seen this film before, and your review sounds like I was right. Looks like some fun costumes and art design though.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah that cover style, with two images split by the title in the center is so generic and overused, it just screams boring.

d_4 said...

Your ending impression is the one I instantly got when I saw the cover. Then I read the summary, saw the trailer, figured "It doesn't seem THAT bad".. and then I read and cycled back to my first thought. Ah well.

Michael Parent said...

Not sure... I have other films to watch before I get to this one...

Lisa Thatcher said...

The film does look a tad manipulative (in terms of tugging at the heart strings) but It's well timed as the older woman younger man thing is extremely common now days. A lot of people will have affection for the film for that reason alone. 

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Far from it actually, this was only #20 out of 63.

FrontRoomCinema said...

You must be getting to the end of these by now BT?

A D said...

I love the orchestra music

The Angry Lurker said...

I'll have to be honest and say...not for me I'm afraid.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

 No I haven't seen that one yet, is it something you recommend checking out?

marco0621 said...

Having read the novel years ago, I was very curious about the movie. Being Dutch, knowing a lot about the history of my country, I find it a very well made movie. A lot of small, more cultural things, possibly hard to explain to foreigners are visible throughout the movie. I guess it is also difficult to translate that literally in another language. Overall, the movie was a bit too long but a moving story that works both in a book as well as on the big screen. Leading actress Ricky Koole is very good and plays the role exactly like how I would imagine it from the book. Recommended!

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Thank you Marco for sharing your point of view. I'm sure many of those details were lost on me, but I still feel the film tries to cover too much ground with not enough depth.

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