Review of Hide and Seek (2014) by Jan V — 07 May 2015

Title: Lot of pretenses but going nowhere. No plot, no takeaway message, no conclusion and no morale, other than that our way of life may need re-evaluation.

I saw this film at the Film Fest Ghent 2014, where it was part of the section Global Cinema. To spoil my lack of apprecia­tion upfront: I cannot find anything positive in this movie. The outset is not clear, and does not become clearer later on. Only those who have read the synopsis before, have a bit of a clue what it is all about. The evening games and their underlying rules remain unclear as well. Even more unclear is the purpose of the (home made) coffin that is set alight, a ritual that we see in the beginning with a repeat later on. Only one scene was interesting, viz. when a 5th person arrived (an ex-boyfriend). Much to his regret his ex-partner announced that she was much happier than ever before. Alas, the potential drama faltered and he left shortly after.

I only understand half of the title. The word Hide seems a reference to being away from "normal" civilization. Neverthe­less, I'm surprised about the amount of "bourgeois" stuff they obviously had available in that remote cottage, for example given the Christmas related attributes which they showed in much more variety than I ever had. Further, the word Seek is completely lost on me, be it that it may refer to finding a new future in living your life. This second part of the title prom­ises that there is a message, a conclusion or even a morale, but I found neither.

The 4 actors (plus 1 for a short time) did their best, and worked believable through their respective roles. Neither got the opportunity to reveal much of their background and expectations. And neither is there any drama on the table, except (see above) in one isolated case (which failed). They cannot show their strengths on those fields, but I don't think that is their fault alltogether.

In the final Q&A the question was raised how much of the action was improvised and what was re­hearsed. Apart from that it was a bit of both, I did not hear a clear answer. So what is left to admire?? I observe only pre­tenses that this film will provoke thoughts about your own life as it is (but it failed miserably for me). Possibly I'm not the appropriate target group??