Cloaca (2003)

Four old college friends in their forties come together in a time of trouble and despair. Old joy relives, but the harsh reality of their problems can't satisfy them and eventually endangers their friendships.

Director:

Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen

Writers:

Maria Goos (play), Maria Goos (screenplay)

Stars:

Peter Blok, Pierre Bokma, Gijs Scholten van Aschat

5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Blok	...	Tom
Pierre Bokma	...	Pieter
Gijs Scholten van Aschat	...	Joep
Jaap Spijkers	...	Maarten
Elsie de Brauw	...	Conny
Caro Lenssen	...	Laura
Marleen Stolz	...	Helena (as Marleen Stoltz)
Eric Schneider	...	Brest
Genio de Groot	...	Jacques Vermeulen
Marcel Hensema	...	Lighting designer
Jeroen Spitzenberger	...	Actor in play
Benjamin de Wit	...	Actor in play
Marnix Stassen	...	Percussionist
Dianne Krijnen	...	Colleague
Iwan Walhain	...	Drug courier on moped

Storyline

The relationship of four old college friends in trouble is renewed when they get dependent on each other. Pieter doesn't want to give back eight valuable paintings he took from the art depot of the municipality for each year as a birthday present. To help him, he requests the help from Tom, once a lawyer, but now a drug addict. Politician Joep, quarrelling with his wife and in the race for becoming a member of the Dutch cabinet, is hiding at Pieter's place. Joep's daughter is actress in a play of stage director Maarten. Secretly Maarten is having sex with her and he is looking for an opportunity to tell. For some time the friendship of the four is revived, but are they willing to go through fire and water for one another?

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Plot Keywords:

friendship | college friend | stage | sex | painting | 

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Genres:

Drama | Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

A-Film [Netherlands] official site [Netherlands]

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch Russian English

Release Date:

23 October 2003 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Cloaca - Alte Freunde

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

€54,587 (Netherlands), 26 October 2003, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

IDTV Film, AVRO Television, CoBo Fonds

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film scenario of Cloaca differs - much more compared with Family (2001) - from the stage script. In contrast to the play, the film plays at different locations. The composition of the cast, on the other hand, was not changed.

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Quotes

Pieter: Two months in a clinic?
Tom: No, one month.
Pieter: Oh, one month.
Tom: Yes, because after that clinic I had to go to that institution.
Pieter: Institution?
Tom: Yes, to become friends with my manic depressive character.

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Connections

Featured in De wereld draait door: Episode #10.11 (2014)

User Reviews

Without doubt one of the best Dutch movie in recent years.

Calling this movie one of the best Dutch in recent years is perhaps not enough. It certainly deserves a spot among the best Dutch movies of all time as well!

If I had to compare this movie to any other, I would say that this movie is the Dutch "Glengarry Glen Ross". It has only powerhouse actors in it, the movie doesn't just have one main character, it follows multiple story lines from all the different characters and it has an excellent written story. Don't let the fact that this is just a 'made for TV' movie scare you of. The only reason the movie didn't got a theatrical release is because Dutch cinema in general is not very popular by the main stream audience and besides movies like this just don't do well in Dutch cinema's, regardless of the language spoken. A shame because that also in a way means that not too often Dutch movies like "Cloaca" will ever be made and released. This movie however truly screams for more.

The story at first starts of rather simple but just like in real life things are more complicated than they at first seem. Every character in the movie has problem(s) on their own and the one thing that connects everything is their friendship. The four old college buddies, now in their forties, try to help each other but have to cope with their own difficulties as well. By helping each other out they discover the true meaning of friendship and start evaluation the way their lives are progressing thus far and where things went wrong for them and they let the 'good old times' revive as well. It's a real character movie and a movie like this always requires some extremely good actors. "Cloaca" really has this. It makes the movie, the story and the situations in this all feel very real and understandable.

"Cloaca" has the best acting you'll probably ever see in a Dutch movie. All of the actors in this movie are well taught and established actors, who appear mostly on the stage. It's too bad that Dutch movies not too often give the chance to let actors like this shine on the silver screen. Ductch cinema doesn't often offer roles like these to actors of this caliber. Pierre Bokma, Gijs Scholten van Aschat and Pierre Bokma are all probably the best Dutch actors at the moment. It also definitely helps the movie that the three of them are real life friends and went to college together (along with the movie its director Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen), it definitely shows on screen, since they all have such a great chemistry and share some great anticipation and reaction with each other. It lifts their performances to an even higher level and makes the timing spot on.

The movie is deliberately kept low key. No fancy tricks are used and the movie mostly relies on telling its story purely through its characters. It's based on a stage play by Maria Goos, which starred for most part the same actors that also appear in this movie. It means that the movie also feels 'stagey' at times, with its characters and dialog. This doesn't always work out well in movies but there are exceptions and when there are exceptions, they are always brilliant ones. "Cloaca" is a wonderful example of this. It's a real shame by the way that the British Kevin Spacey stage play version wasn't an huge success.

The movie is extremely well directed by Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen. Of course the storytelling is slow but van de Sande Bakhuyzen's directing keeps the pace always high and the movie interesting. The movie also has some beautiful cinematography and a suiting musical score. A real lost for Dutch cinema, that Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen died in 2005 of cancer. He made the best movies in his last years and I would had definitely been interested in seeing more movies of him, definitely if they were like "Cloaca".

10/10

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