Hemel (2012)

Wonderful character development!

How sad is this?

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I don't get the negative reviews. I know this film isn't for everyone, it's kind of slow moving and depressing. I think it does however give an excellent portrayal of a young woman in a lot of pain. You have to feel so sorry for her, she's just lost. She's sad and sex is exactly how a lot of people deal with these feelings. Hannah Hoekstra does an amazing job portraying this character though she may be a little too pretty for the role, not that attractive people can't be sad too. I think the nudity is not gratuitous at all, it helps define the character. If you haven't seen Hemel, give it a chance.

Pretentious skin flick. The writer and director really have nothing much to say, but say it anyway. So what you have is 80 or so minutes of waffling, drifting, meaninglessness.To alleviate the boredom, and make more men watch the movie, there are a few sex/nudity scenes. Even these aren't appealing, as they are fairly perverse and seemed included to gross out the audience. In some way they do go to demonstrate the personality and life of the lead character, so aren't entirely gratuitous.Performances are okay, I suppose, given what the actors had to work with.Best thing (and only good thing) about the movie is the end, of course. And it seems to arrive out of the blue. One of the more pleasant surprises in my movie-watching life.

Sacha Polak's first feature is a work of almost infinite subtlety. Working from a first-class screenplay, she has created a gem. Beautifully filmed and anchored by a riveting lead performance by Hannah Hoekstra, this is a deeply nuanced look at one woman's struggle towards adulthood, seen through the prism of her relationship with her father and various lovers. Hoekstra reminds me of Nina Hoss but whereas Hoss' performances can feel cold, shutting us out of her feelings, here we sense every bit of Hoekstra's pain. The haunting soundtrack adds rather than distracts and at 80 minutes, the film feels as rich and densely textured as anything I've seen. Wonderful.

Here is a psychological quality movie with razor sharp and often funny quotes, although there is not a huge amount of conversations in it. The storyline starts with daughter 'Hemel' who devours men. How do you detach from your parents. It is a movie that slowly crawls under your skin and makes you feel. And feel the pain. The movie contains strong intense screen shots and subtle supporting sounds/music combined with a layered story that is blended in a way of rare beauty. What starts as an apparent superficial movie (a dutch and very explicit, but not too shocking start), slowly unravels in questions of how do you detach from your parents, which tecniques do you use to be loved, do you hurt or get hurt, life and death, do you get enough attention and do you "miss the bus". The sex is more or less something that you have to look through to see what the movie really is about. Telling the story would spoil a lot of it, so my advice would be go and feel that movie.