With a cinematic output that consists mostly of romcoms and WWII movies, I think the Netherlands should welcome any attempt to do something out of the box, and Rundfunk: Jachterwachter does just that. Traditionally, absurdism is an area best cultivated by the Belgians. Of course, we Dutchies have hyperrealistic comedies like New Kids and Flodder where people survive violent car crashes and fire fights, or where they launch gasoline-filled tanks into the Statue of Liberty. And yes, there is always Alex van Warmerdam with his surreal places and characters. But we rarely get comedies in the Netherlands that so brazenly defy the laws of physics, morals and logic as deeply as this one.
Think of some of the whackiest and politically incorrect situations that you've seen on Dutch TV, and this film will take it up a notch. Not only the characters and events are completely out of this world, so is the humor. Jokes about child abuse, animal cruelty, anorexia, pedophilia, homosexuality, bloody violence and several blatant cases of sex-shaming: it's all in there, no one is spared, and no topic is sacred enough to escape the axe of ridicule. Well, perhaps racism, because colored jokes are conspicuously missing. Sign of the times, I guess.
It is probably acquired taste, because I laughed very hard at some of the crudest jokes, but the rest of the theater (mostly millenials) was clearly less convinced about this film's comedic merits. Not that every joke works, by the way. Kids who drink and curse all the time, it's funny for a while but then it gets a little stale. Especially the Biblical jokes fall a bit flat on their face, and could have been much racier. We have a bit of a Dutch tradition when it comes to religious jokes (as a famous Dutch comedian once said: "that which assumes a form of power must be allowed to be ridiculed"), but here, it sadly amounts to little humor.
Not that the actors are to blame for this, as Yannick van de Velde, Tom van Kalmthout and the rest of the cast know exactly how to deliver their dry-witted performances that sells the absurd tomfoolery just great. Also props to director Rob Lücker and cinematographer Joris Kerbosch, for capturing all the zany stuff in beautifully stylized images, making the sun-scorched camping look like a 'polder-version' of There Will Be Blood (yes, I really made that comparison). The cinematography also contains the more subtle visual jokes, such as a TV that looks so old that you can barely believe it ever existed, or a playground that is nearly overgrown.
Most movies that are spin-offs of series usually end up being a longer and bigger budgetted episode of that series, but this one is different. Cast and crew already sharpened their teeth on the TV series Rundfunk (which I definitely want to watch now), but they were bold enough to go into new territory with this spin-off movie, taking it in a very different direction. With its balls-out humor, I throroughy enjoyed this movie, but it certainly isn't for everyone. Still I say: keep up the good work. We need more of this inspired lunacy.
