Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageAbel (1985)
Director: Alex Van Warmerdam
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Abel is a spoilt, possibly retarded, certainly eccentric 31-year-old mummy's boy whose suffocating relationship with his mother is balanced by the constant torment which father and son inflict on each other. A final rift occurs over a TV set (father refuses to have one, mother and son smuggle a set into the loft), and Abel is booted out into the streets. Father finds solace at an establishment called 'Naked Girls', where he picks up Zus (the voluptuous Malherbe) but Abel also stumbles upon Zus, is seduced, and shares her bohemian lifestyle...Van Warmerdam, who also stars as gormless Abel, directs with brash, colourful simplicity, evidently on a minute budget. The film is self-consciously quirky, and while some of the non-stop visual jokes hit the right note of irrational oddness, others are silly and contrived. But at least it has a distinctive flavour, and some scenes display a flair for social satire. Wittily comic or tiresome, according to taste.Author: SFe
Cast & crew
Director: Alex Van Warmerdam
Producer: Laurens Geels, Dick Maas, Robert Swaab
Cast: Alex Van Warmerdam, Henri Garcin, Olga Zuiderhoek, Loes Luca, Annet Malherbe full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 103 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now