The Dutch hit Siberia (1998) is coming to R1 land. Marketed as a mix of Run Lola Run and Trainspotting (I have a different opinion!!) the film has gotten some rather interesting reviews. Soundtrack provided by the DJ sensation XL Junkie.
Street date: January 18.



***
Review:

SIBERIA

Starring Roeland Fernhout, Hugo Metsers. Written by Robert Jan Westdijk, Jos Driessen. Directed by Robert Jan Westdijk.

**
Siberia is nasty and fun -- an unsympathetic portrait of Europe set to a pounding techno soundtrack. This cheap Dutch film, directed by Robert Jan Westdijk, will make you nostalgic for the North American indies of yesteryear, before filmmakers started smoothing over their hard edges in an attempt to sell themselves.

Hugo (Hugo Metsers) and Goof (Roeland Fernhout) are a pair of roommates in Amsterdam who have invented a mean little game. Every day, they pick up a pair of girls visiting the city, have sex with them, then steal their money and rip out a page from their passports while they sleep. There's a definite method to their cruelty -- they collect nationalities from around the world, as if ticking off tourist destinations, and hoard the loot in a statue of the Virgin Mary for some important but unspecified purpose.

Hugo is the ringleader, while Goof, true to his name, is more lovable and harmless. Their relationship dramatically changes, however, when Goof picks up Lara (Vlatka Simac), a savvy traveller of Russian extraction. He rapidly becomes infatuated with her and invites her to stay, then tries to convince Hugo to give him all of their stolen money so he can take her to her childhood home, Siberia.

The script captures the unpleasantness beneath the romance of backpacking -- the crowds, the impermanence, the superficial friendships -- and hints at the anger experienced by locals in towns overwhelmed by outsiders. Westdijk wisely doesn't overcook these themes, since it's enough just to have them simmering in the background. It would have been good if he'd exercised a little more restraint in terms of his filmmaking -- the Run Lola Run-style jumpcutting and abrupt leaps into fuzzy black-and-white footage are an unnecesary distraction to an otherwise absorbing little film. -- CATHARINE TUNNACLIFFE "
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_0...nscreen.html#1



Regards,
Pro-B

sounds like an internet version of the Bang Bus.

sounds like something thats not my cup of tea. maybe now that I'm older....I'll have to pass on the techno in-yer-face soundtrack. gives me a headache.