Bullhead (2011)

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Blistering performances.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Bullhead is an extremely frustrating film. It sports an incredible performance by Matthias Schoenaerts as a lonely Belgian farmer struggling to cope with an emotionally isolated existence and haunted by an insurmountably troubled past. To say any more would be a total spoiler. As a piece of character drama, this is seriously affecting stuff, made all the more distressing by a truly world- class performance. This would have been enough for a terrific movie.However, the waters are muddied by various other superfluous plot strands; an investigation into the use of steroids in beef, local gangsters killing cops, low-rent hoodlums selling stolen tyres, a gay police informant who also happens to be a long-lost childhood friend, and a slightly implausible love interest. While any of these ideas may have borne fruit in their own movie, the result here is definitely less than the sum of its parts, not least because the aptly sombre tone of the main story is compromised by the intrusion of these other events.Michaël R. Roskam is definitely a director to watch, and I suspect Bullhead will become an interesting curiosity to visit in the context of a great director taking his first steps. Ultimately, the weakness here is in the writing. Roskam's next movie was 'The Drop' (with Matthias Schoenaerts again awesome in a supporting role), which was adapted from a short story by Dennis Lehane and, for my money, is an infinitely superior movie, largely because it doesn't suffer from the same cluttered over-plotting. Like Anton Corbijn , tone and emotion are clearly Roskam's forté and I for one am excited to see what he delivers next.Technical merits for the blu ray are first rate, and the 'making of' piece is watchable, if nothing special.

One of the best films I have seen for a number of years. Perfect storyline, perfect direction and perfect acting. If you are board with Hollywood P.S. and wants to see something different watch this film. As a man I am naturally feeling deep sympathy towards the main character; and thus enjoyed the film. However, there is no doubt in my mind the female audience would enjoy it just as well. Nevertheless, only mature (I don't mean old) audience could enjoy that kind of a storyline. Thoughts evoking film, where for many days after watching it you would feel somehow emotionally touched by the film. Though the sadist part of the film is the final seen, somehow I felt this is a perfect ending for everyone involved!!!! He could find peace at last!

A great film to watch if you're used to watch films accepting the director's choices and criticizing only their effectiveness.Yes, the almost two and a half hours are filled with a lot of story and back-story that are at times difficult to follow; yes, some of the symbolism seems to have been thrown in just for the sake of it, and you'll have to wait for the very last scene for it to pay off; yes, a beef hormones mafia may sound an unappealing (even ridiculous? Well, think again…) topic to someone; yes, inevitably there are some misses among the hits.But this is all about losing something (your innocence, your future, your self…) and trying (or not) to regain it: in fact, the advantage of having such a wide amount of narrative is that you can make sense of the movie from different (and equally valid) points of view.Give it a try. In its sophistication, Rundskop has what it takes to appeal any kind of viewer, as long as he is willing to get hooked.

There are plenty of unsettling features of this simple tragic film, but all are treated with equanimity. Unless you are familiar with the Belgian hormone mafia, the first 20 minutes or so of this film winds up slowly until it is released. There are themes that remind me of Almodovar, but with the light sucked out. The secret of storytelling is what to leave out, and the decisions about what to leave to the viewer seem perfect. Time is spent on the emotions of a man rendered incapable of a normal outlet, and how the few people around him compensate. Matthias Schoenaerts as the protagonist is excellent, but this film owes everything to it's tight direction. (Language plays quite an important part in the film, and the audience is required to recognise the difference between the two Belgian languages.)