Underplayed Gems

The Northerners (1992)

The Northerners poster
Original title
De Noorderlingen
Directed by
Alex van Warmerdam
Genre
comedy film
Country
Netherlands
Runtime
1h 48m
Rated
15
Rating
6.9 of 10 from 61 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

In a 1960s Dutch new town that is just one street, residents act out their repressed desires and fantasies. A forester and others navigate a bizarre and dreamlike community where everyday life takes strange turns. The film is a satirical look at bourgeois existence.

darkly comicsurrealsatiricaloffbeatvisually stylishuncannyslow-burndeadpan

What happens

The Northerners (Dutch: De Noorderlingen) is a 1992 Dutch film written and directed by Alex van Warmerdam. The film was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. This black comedy takes places in the 1960s, in a surreal Dutch new town consisting of only a single street. It is a darkly amusing satire of bourgeois life and its repressions, pursuit of fantasies through a Freudian forest are all executed with visual and dramatic flair. Van Warmerdam himself has said that he considers this his best film. It won him a (Gouden Kalf) for best director, and the movie was nominated for the International Fantasy Film Award. Actor Rudolf Lucieer won a Gouden Kalf for his role as Anton, the forester. The movie is part of the official Canon of Dutch films and has gained cult film status. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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