Ex Drummer (2007)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Koen Mortier

Writers:

Herman Brusselmans (novel)
Koen Mortier (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 January 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Horror | Music

Plot:

Three handicapped losers who form a band ask famous writer Dries to be their drummer. He joins the band and starts manipulating them.

Plot Keywords:

Drummer | Writer | Drugs | Evil | Blood

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Dries Van Hegen	...	Dries
Norman Baert	...	Koen de Geyter
Gunter Lamoot	...	Jan Verbeek
Sam Louwyck	...	Ivan Van Dorpe
François Beukelaers	...	Pa Verbeek
Bernadette Damman	...	Mother Verbeek
Joris Van Der Speeten	...	Jan Verbeek 10 years
Nancy Denijs	...	Ivan's Wife
Nomie Visser	...	Ivan's Daughter
Dolores Bouckaert	...	Lio
Wim Willaert	...	Jimmy
Barbara Callewaert	...	Christine
Jan Hammenecker	...	Dikke Lul
Vinnie Bonduwe	...	Friend Dikke Lul
Chantal Wannyn	...	Erna

Also Known As:

My Way Is the Highway (International: English title) (closing credits title)

Runtime:

UK:101 min | Belgium:90 min | Canada:104 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Belgium

Language:

Dutch | Flemish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Belgium:KT | Netherlands:16 | Germany:16 | Australia:R | New Zealand:R18 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Middelkerke, Belgium

Company:

CCCP

Trivia:

The movie was intended to be filmed by Jan Bucquoy (La vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-1978 (1994)) and an option was made for the novel but because the subsidies of the Flemish government were withdrawn for Camping Cosmos (1996) (made in 1996 not far from the location of Ex Drummer (2007)), he could not make the movie because of financial problems. The movie was made ten years later by Koen Mortier.

Soundtrack:

2 Morro Morro Land

Weirdness taken one step too far

"Ex Drummer" starts out great. The setting and plot are so wacky it's a delight. The characters alternately amuse and shock you with their actions. The movie has been described as a "Trainspotting" for the new millennium and while the comparison isn't totally fitting, "Ex Drummer" shares the run down cast of freaks with the Ewan McGregor vehicle.

The first half is totally brilliant, original, refreshing and with a great soundtrack as the icing on the cake. In the second half, however, the movie loses some of its wit. It's there that you realize that "Ex Drummer" isn't really going anywhere, although it all started so promising. Characters just hit, abuse and swear at each other for no apparent reason and it all becomes a bit tiring.

The movie's ending is rather anti-climatic. The credits role and you're left puzzled, feeling that this could have made a much bigger impact on you, if the story had gone somewhere else. Maybe that's not the movie's fault but the fault of the novel, which it is based upon.

In the end "Ex Drummer" is a refreshing example of non-American film-making. It will leave you with your mouth open more than just a few times. Unfortunately, the beginning promises more than the rest of the movie can keep. Still, "Ex Drummer" is a must-see. One of the most unusual movies of the past ten years.