Profiel van JvH4848

SCORE 6/10. Gaf voldoende stof om mijn aandacht vast te houden, maar het raakte me niet en ik bleef een buitenstaander. De fragmenten met de respectievelijke opdrachten waren mogelijk relatief te kort om betrokken te raken bij degenen die hem hadden ingehuurd. Anderzijds is het mogelijk ook mijn fout om deze film te kiezen, want ik zie zelden iets in familierelaties en de problemen daaromheen. Kortom, goed gemaakt, goed ge-cast en goed geacteerd, maar inhoudelijk deed het me niet zo veel. Misschien alleen de scene met de dochter die achteraf vroeg “Had je misschien toch mijn vader willen zijn?”

SCORE 6/10. Seen at Movies that Matter 2026. The growing relationship between classmates Alec and Nina is certainly cute, originally caused by a school assignment. It is especially interesting given the very different backgrounds wherein they grew up. A perfect combination with Alec’s fruitless attempts to firstly hide his father’s business from Nina, and (after that came out) secondly his role therein that surpassed the involuntary bystander by far.
On the other hand, with the respective parents I feel not a single connection. I have the impression that these parents are invented to give the story an unusual element, something different from other coming-of-age plots. It may be intended to attract extra audience who will be intrigued by film title and synopsis. Hence my middle-of-the-road score.
The movie itself is technically well-made and well-acted, but overall not so interesting as it seemed upfront when reading the announcement.

SCORE 6/10. Seen at Movies that Matter 2026. Compliments for the achievement, similar to Boyhood (Linklater 2013) in gathering so much material, covering so many years, thereby succeeding in giving all family members enough attention. On the other hand, there is a difference, condensed in the mother’s statement in the beginning, that there is nothing worse than brothers fighting each other, with no chance of reconciliation. A family spreading over the world is also something extra that Boyhood did not have.
Anyway, I found it neither interesting nor compelling to follow the family members in subsequent stages in their lives, the same conclusion I wrote earlier about Boyhood. The only interesting aspect of this documentary were the field shots, where we saw everyone busy with the war and its fallout.

SCORE 8/10. Seen at Movies that Matter 2026. Well made, conveying a clear message. The pictures from inside the area are an added benefit. However, it shows nothing really new or unexpected, unless for those who have lived under a rock and/or were force-fed daily with biased news. The latter is something unavoidable in many countries saying to support Israel, where exposing bad acts by the IDF is immediately marked as antisemitism, instead of being anti-Isreal-rightwing government which is something completely different. Little chance that both sides ever reconcile, at least not in the foreseeable future. Will this documentary succeed in convincing people who were on Israel’s side by default?? Will it move them over to a more nuanced stance??

SCORE 9/10. Seen at Movies that Matter 2026. I saw Terrestrial Verses from the same filmmaker (saw it twice even), so I had some idea what to expect. The beginning scene was very similar to one of the stories in Terrestrial Verses, wherein a filmmaker fruitlessly argues with a censor about the contents of a film, removing scenes one by one to get an approval. This time, however, the filmmaker leaves the office with no intention at all to change his film, saying that him coming here was a mistake in the first place. From that moment on, the direction the story takes is not compliance but obstinacy, defying the obligation in Iran to obtain a permit to show a film in public (defined as >5 people).
Developments after that starting point are surprising and unexpected to say the least. For me I knew what to expect with this filmmaker, having also seen his Until Tomorrow / Ta Farda (2022), though the latter was multiple factors more tense than this one. All his movies have in common that they show several aspects of living in Iran, and how people cope with its restrictions. Very enlightening, as Iran is not the first choice to visit as a tourist, and even then, we won’t get to know how life is there in daily reality. These movies bridge the gap a little bit, still leaving much we don’t know and won’t ever get to know.