By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Alex van Warmerdam
Starring: Alex van Warmerdam | Hadewych Minis | Jan Bijvoet | Jeroen Perceval | Tom Dewispelaere
Country: belgium, denmark, netherlands
Year: 2014
Running time: 113
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954315/combined
Thom says: “I saw van Warmerdam’s brilliant 2009 film THE LAST DAYS OF EMMA BLANK (5 CATS) at TIFF and ever since I’ve been haphazardly tracking him down but it was sheer coincidence that I went to see BORGMAN recently. When I saw the director was van Warmerdam I became ecstatic, even over the terrible review it received from San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle, my least favorite film critic in the United States. In the past few years since 2009 I had managed to track down VOYEUR (ABEL) (1986) (5 CATS), THE DRESS (1996) (4 CATS), & LITTLE TONY (1998) (4.5 CATS) with OBER, THE NORTHERNERS, & GRIMM (no connection to current television hit series) to see, so it looks like some rather thrilling fare in my future.
“Be that as it may, this outstanding black comedy is in the running for FILM-OF-THE-YEAR. Yes, there’s quite a connection to such previous outstanding films like Jean Renoir’s classic comedy BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING (1932) & Giorgos Lanthimos’ FILM-OF-THE YEAR DOGTOOTH (2010), but van Warmerdam adds his own distinctive touches, although never trying to make a sense of clarity in the proceedings.
“First on in this strange thriller we see a gang of town thugs running through the woods to discover the underground diggings of Camiel Borgman who has apparently hornswaggled other members of the community. As they continue to poke long rods into the earth to finally find the underground dwelling Borgman runs through a series of tunnels and then on through the woods waking up others in his cult, also hidden underground.
“In need of new surroundings he wanders through the countryside. Stopping at an upper-class home he asks the man of the manor if he can come in and take a bath that out-of-hand refuses the request. But Borgman continues to insist that he knows the man’s wife from a previous encounter, until the man, Richard, leaves the mansion and comes out to start beating on Camiel, to the point that you really think that he’ll die. Finally his wife, Marina, intercedes and they leave him to cripple off the estate.
“But Borgman doesn’t leave, hiding away in a gardener’s shed, until he eventually let’s Marina know he’s there and slowly he wraps her around his finger, as well as the three children + the English-speaking nanny, who is constantly at odds with Marina, but never gets more than a reprimand. Richard is seriously clueless as his entire world falls down around him.
“After Borgman has gotten a firm foothold in the family, by totally altering his appearance (HOLY MOTORS), he beckons his cohorts from the underground caverns, Ludwig (van Warmerdam) & Pascal) as well as two very talented, very mysterious, & very cruel women, one a middle-aged, steely-eyed matron & the other younger, hipper, and cold as ice, with a wicked idea of fun. The cult eventually laid claims to the family as total chaos & mayhem reign. An undeniable macabre humorous quality permeates the film but it is very black indeed. Special marks go to Hadewych Milis as the perplexed Marina. 5 cats”
Michael responds: “I find it interesting that you refer to the people who run Borgman out of town at the beginning, ‘thugs.’ One was a priest, and I believe another may have been the town sheriff. Not quite the thugs you portray them to be in your review. It calls into question Borgman’s true nature in a way that you have to go back and reexamine partway through the film.”
Julie says: “I also give BORGMAN 5 cats. Wow is all I can say. What a messed up story. But very intriguing! The mother played by Hadewych Minis reminds me of the Danish version of a slightly more timid Julianne Moore. Another very strong cast including all the children.”
Michael says: ” I was really looking forward to BORGMAN, and when it started, I got a distinctly WRONG/DOGTOOTH vibe from it that I was really enjoying. But as the quirky, inexplicable film progressed, I grew less and less engaged. Is Borgman the devil? Or some impish demon plaguing the wealthy suburban family? Certainly a comment on class, it’s no mistake that Borgman and his fellow mischief-makers start off a hobos living in makeshift homes in the woods. The two major problems for me in BORGMAN was the lack of character motivation, and the unimaginative, somewhat predictable ending. Perhaps a stronger comment could have been made with a more challenging ending, but the film doesn’t go there. There are some truly humorous moment, with the blackest comic sensibility, and the film is expertly shot, with good performances, but like BIRDMAN, the screenplay is the stumbling block, and for me, that’s the most important element of most films. 3 cats”