Well what can I say? I'm a sucker for epic melodramas like this...

Black Book was pretty darn awesome. A well told tale. A glimpse into the true give and take of war.

I look at Levy's assessment of Black Book, and have to say it is a ridiculous reduction of it's story:

Sure, there's T&A, but it's strictly in the service of the heroine and her challenging quest for justice. As for boredom, I guess that depends on your opinion of WWII -- I suppose for many it is at such a temporal distance that it might well now be viewed as something to "*yawn*" about. However, for anyone who can imagine themselves caught in an all encompassing conflict such as that and then having to improvise independently while trusting your judgement of character -- well, let's just say it is heart-poundingly immersive.

Much of the success of this film rests on the able shoulders of Carice van Houten, who is in practically every one of the 145 minutes of running time. She is note perfect, suitably retro-beautiful, naked as needed, crooning on the soundtrack -Wow! - I'm going to need to see more of her.

And of course, Paul Verhoeven returns to form after spending a decade and a half in the darkness. I always believed that the man who made the film masterpieces The Fourth Man, Robocop, & Total Recall would once again rise to movie glory. Even his lesser films were very good -- Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, & the under-rated and over-mocked Showgirls. He's only made one true stinker since he began his American sojourn -- Hollow Man -- Yow!

If you like war movies told from the perspective of non-combatants caught up in the fight, then make time to see Black Book -- it is one very well made movie.

7 out of 5.

I just realized that BB's Sebastian Koch was the same actor from The Lives of Others -- I guess all those Europeans just look alike to me...

A very well made film, truly sweeping in scope while presenting a strong argument about how little sides can matter when it comes down to the specific people. Absolutely beautiful at times, suitably lurid at others, it's right up there with Verhoeven's best, albeit for completely different reasons. As bradley mentioned, a special kudos goes to Caricevan Houten, whose the real deal. It's funny that Sebastian Koch has starred in my two favorite films of 2007 thusfar, I wonder what he has on his line up next...

The Black Book was in a way victim of its own budget.

It was pretty well received in Germany for a Dutch film, of course because Verhoeven has a pretty strong fan-base here and because people are still interested inthe subject.

I found it rather mediocre because the storyline became too complicated and lost suspense after a while. And of course, you could see the limited budget in the missing details.

Cant wait to see it!! Still 2 weeks away here.

The Lives of Others is also my favourite film of 07 so far (i'll count it as 07 and not 06) so I hope Koch's winning streak continues. Now that I think about it he reminds me of the late Peter Jennings a little lookswise.

I don't want to spoil your enthusiasm because The Live of Others is a remarkable movie. But - there is always this but - in January another German movie made it to the screen called "Die Fälscher - The Counterfeiters" by Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky which is definitely the better film and would have deserved the Oscar as well.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813547/


Sebastian Koch is also in the Black Book if you have noticed. A good man butnot in hte same league as Ulrich Mühe who is really a top actor. He and Hanns Zischler (Munich) seem to finally get the rewards for their many years of excellent acting.

Definitely one of the most underrated/underseen films of 2007. Great production values (Especially considering its budget), a tight, complicated but followable screenplay that dosn't feel like its nearly 2.5 hours, and an excellent ensemble, particularly Koch and of course van Houton, in possibly my favorite lead female turn so far of 2007. Excellent, excellent film.

****

Yep, an underrated flick for sure. I'm still debating between it and Lust Caution as which one is better as both essentially tackle the same theme but in distinctly different styles.

Seeing this soon.

Yes it was silly, and over-the-top, but I loved it. And a perfect, charismatic lead performance. Seriously...those 2.5 hours flew by. Mixed melodrama with poignancy exceptionally well. It's not particularly intelligent or insightful...but it doesn't try to be.
They just don't make movies like this in the U.S. anymore....quality, mainstream type films.

B+
#9 of 2007

But I'll vote an A in the poll for anything in my Top 10.

Hmm, I'll let this one sink in. In other words, I'm trying to decide whether this was my absolute favorite film of the year, or just very close.

Black Book is all at once a great thriller, romance, tragedy, war statement, historical recreation, and fascinating character study, among other things. It's most of the things I love about the movies rolled into one.

There are no good or bad sides here, just different people and their motivations. Everyone is a potential killer or betrayee and everyone has the ability to do wrong (I especially LOVED the last scene at the lake. "We should open that coffin." "Yes... we should" Wraps up all that perfectly.)

I enjoyed the sense that there is no happy ending here, Ellis and Muntz do not ride off into the sunset, they instead go back into a world full of shit buckets and unfair death. The last 40 minutes are incredibly powerful and ballsy in that sense, the Muntz thing... it hurt.

I also think it's one of the best acted films I've seen this year, along with pitch perfect writing, direction, and production design. I was thoroughly entertained and enthralled for the entire running time, I loved watching this as much as I enjoyed in a filmmaking scale. It just has this energy and momentum to it, the movie is a thrill ride in every sense of the word. Whether or not the gunplay and and chases and etc. was more cinematic than realistic, I freakin dug it. It kind of had this old school spy movie charm to it, I agree with the person that said they don't make them like this anymore, this movie was just pure fun with all its other worth.

Brilliant.

5/5

Finally seen it. Quite good - though a little dissapointing. I guess my expectations were too high. I have problems with it but the acting is top notch and its possibly the most visually alluring film of the year. I'll need to mull it over a little longer and elaborate later.

Grade : B to B+ for now.

B/B+


It's certainly better than the thematically somewhat similar Lust, Caution. It's not as artistic of a movie and not as beautiful to ,ook at....but it's also simply more interesting and entertaining. Verhoeven went an unusual way, by using the WWII simply as a background (it ends pretty much in the middle of the film) to the actual thriller here which ends up with a rather surprising reveal.

I thought that it lacked focus from time to time and some things seemed to not be very logical/realistic, but overalll I was entertained. Carice van Houten is a gifted actress and gives a formidable leading turn, though not as riveting and powerful as Tang Wei in Ang Lee's film. The rest of the cast is pretty good too. I think some tighter editing would have helped this. Verhoeven's outrageous style just shines through from time to time (with the heroine being put through a shit-shower, tons of nudity as well as some rather brutal killing scenes), however he is far more restrained here than in most of his Hollywood films (just think Starship Troopers or Showgirls).

I think it's a pretty brave movie in a way it presents the Netherlands and some Dutch people during and after Woild War II. Not a very flattering or patriotic look to say the least. The movie's best point about the neverending war is brought home PERFECTLY by the film's final shot which is, without doubt, one of the best finishing sequences of 2007.

Yeah, this was a very good yet highly under-rated film. This made my top 10 last year and has a spot in my DVD collection. Great acting, great story, very good pacing and structure. Its a shame Verhoven has stopped making films of this quality for Hollywood and saves them for his native land.

Grade A

Heh. Looks like Levy deleted his review after seeing the string of positive reviews come in. Luckily, I QFT'd it. This is a very common phenomena here at KJ - - some easily swayed posters hear the media shills selling or dissing a film and jump on the bandwagon, only to disavow "their" opinion after hearing the genuine thoughts of KJer's.

I hereby pledge to make it my mission to capture this phenomena through the snapshot of QFT and thereby expose the disingenuous that walk among us!

Yeah, wtf Levy?