Underplayed Gems

Cloaca (2003)

Cloaca poster
Directed by
Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen
Genre
comedy drama
Country
Netherlands
Runtime
1h 48m
Rated
12
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 19 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

Four men in their 40s reconnect after letting their friendship fade. They gather and confront old tensions and regrets.

dramedynostalgicconversationalintrospectivebittersweetslow-burnensemble-drivenmelancholic

What happens

Cloaca is a 2003 Dutch film, directed by Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen. It is a film adaptation of the 2002 theatre play Cloaca written by Maria Goos, who wrote the scenario for the film as well. The leading roles celebrate men in their 40s who were formerly student friends but since then have let their relationship go stale. They are played by: Goos's husband Peter Blok (Tom), Pierre Bokma (Pieter), Gijs Scholten van Aschat (Joep), and Jaap Spijkers (Maarten). Female roles were played by Caro Lenssen (Laura), Elsie de Brauw (Conny), and Marleen Stolz (Russian prostitute). Eric Schneider acted in a supporting role as Brest, Pieter's boss's boss. Blok, Bokma, Goos, Scholten van Aschat, and Van de Sande Bakhuyzen know each other from the Toneelacademie Maastricht. The film was conceived as a made-for-TV film (it was co-financed by the AVRO) but later got a cinema release. It won the public prize for Dutch film at a festival in 2003, and was released on DVD in 2005. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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