Camera Obscura LITTLE SISTER (Robert-Jan Westdijk - Netherlands 1995).Hard to tell what makes "Zusje" work so well. The concept of the faux-documentary and the entirely subjective, mostly hand-held camera-work is both highly original and certainly something novel in the Netherlands at the time. Or is it the main role by Kim van Kooten, who is almost permanently on screen. Director Robert Jan Westdijk apparently auditioned over three hundred candidates for the main role, but none of them apparently had the right quality to express a certain kind of innocence when looking directly into the camera (which occurs a lot). After this endless search, Kim van Kooten - in her debut role - came up as first choice and she is a real find. She really is the kind of unpolished natural talent every first-time director dreams of.Through the subjective camera we're soon part of a voyeuristic and rather uncomfortable journey when we join video-obsessed Martijn (Romijn Coonen with the voice of Hugo Metsers III) who - after a long absence - decides to pay a surprise visit to his younger sister Daantje (Kim van Kooten) on her 20th birthday and starts filming her almost constantly. She is a design student in Amsterdam and seems quite tolerant of her brother's continuous presence while he obsessively intrudes her daily goings-on. Daantje engages in a turbulent relationship with Ramon (Roeland Fernhout) whose initial tolerance of Martijn - now entering his life as well - soon makes place for irritation. Through frequent flashbacks (grainy footage shot on super-8) we slowly learn some things about Daantje en Martijn's childhood. It becomes apparent that some uncomfortable unresolved issues still stand between them, but it remains unclear what their relationship was like when they were children. The very film we're watching is Martijn's documentary on his sister, but soon the tables are turned when all the footage he shot is stolen and Daantje starts taking some of her own measures to put Martijn in place.Practically the whole cast and crew was under 30 during shooting and the largely unknown cast of newcomers greatly attributes to the raw and fresh feel of the film. The verité style and dialog of "Zusje" might suggest a lot of improvisation during filming, but Robert-Jan Westdijk and Jos Driessen meticulously worked on the script for years, in order to make the film as authentic as possible. Everything, to the most insignificant details, was carefully prepared.In the Netherlands, the film was more a kind of cultural phenomenon than it was a huge hit in cinemas, but considering its micro-budget, the 140,000 sold tickets were quite OK. Despite this enthusiastic reception by the critics and public alike, it never really caught on in other countries. The subject matter was probably a little too edgy and uncomfortable for most audiences. Surely the breath of fresh air Dutch cinema needed.Camera Obscura --- 9/10

Magnus Vinterhav This movie took me by storm.This is a great movie about love between siblings.I loved it and I forgot everything else when I watched it. The theme for the movie is not common, and something like this just catches your attention by it's provocative nature.The filming is a bit of the Danish Dogma style, since most of the filming is made from the brothers hand-camera, from his point of view. It is all right, it does not disturb me, but rather gives it a documentary feeling.The script is very nice, and it is not that easy to figure out just what is coming to you.The acting is also very good. I love the actors. They play well, convincingly, and are charming in a natural way.I can only recommend this movie to all serious movie-lovers. Movies like this, that not only are not afraid of sensitive themes, but also dare to present them this beautifully, is the reason I love movies.

raymond-15 This film is a real "turn-about". In the world of film production we have a host of amateurs trying to become professionals, but here we have professionals setting themselves the task of creating a look-alike amateur film. And they do it very well. We the audience see all the action through Martijn's view-finder and we see all the faults too - the too-quick panning, out-of-focus shots, scenes which are superfluous, moments of blank film and all the mistakes that every amateur is prone to make. Martijn's camera concentrates on his sister Daantje (Kim van Hooten) for this is the story of her life and Martijn tries to capture it all, even the most intimate and personal moments. Ramon (Roeland Fernhout) persists in attempting to seduce Daantje and demonstrates in close-up how to kiss a girl. Ramon in my opinion runs off with the acting honours in this movie. He projects his personality exceptionally well and is a likeable no-hoper of a character. As for Martijn we see very little of him because most of the time he is behind the camera. Daantje maintains her character as the unco-operative sister. All the youngsters are equally convincing in party mood. I liked especially the ironic ending where the videos end up in a junk sale and Martijn's "masterpiece" will sooner or later be completely taped over. Such is life! As good as this film is, I hasten to add that I hope it does not set a whole host of other movie-makers on the same path. Once is enough! Did I hear someone mention "The Blair Witch Project"?

Sander kessels Here's another proof that the least money new young directors have to create a movie, the more creativity is used to make the best out of it. This brilliant movie -one of the best dutch movies ever- has a highly original way of telling. You are not really looking at a professional movie, but at a director's cut of a bunch of videotapes... You will hardly see the main character...because this guy is the cameraman as well. Have a look at it. It is worth to look at...!