Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Borgman (2013)

Woah, this is one strange flick. Camiel Borgman flees his underground home - which is literally a hole in the forest floor covered with wood and earth to appear as if there is nothing unusual there.  On his way out of the forest, he warns two friends in different underground locations that they need to go asap because there are some men with guns and axes heading their way.

Borgman heads to a rich neighborhood where he knocks on doors asking if he can take a bath.  Since he is a dirty, long haired stranger, no one is receptive to his odd request.  When homeowner Richard denies him access, Borgman pretends he had a previous relationship with Richards wife.  Although wife Marina says she's never met him before, Richards jealousy makes him lose control. He beats the hell out of Borgman, and when Marina goes out to see if he's okay, he's gone.

Later that night when she finds him in the backyard, Marina offers him a bath and allows him to spend the night in the tiny guest house in the back.   The next day he begs to stay longer and says he's in pain due to her husbands beating.  Marina feels guilty and relents, which allows Borgman to start insinuating himself into her families lives.  And that's not a good thing.

This is a film where there are so many unanswered questions and so many interpretations, that you'll be thinking about it long after it's over.  It's a Dutch film so there may be some mythology or cultural aspects that I'm not aware of, but it's a really interesting film.  There's some dark humor in it, and you keep waiting for something to occur that shows a motivation for what is happening.

Many odd things happen and you keep trying to figure out what Borgman is doing. But there are a bunch of twists that come when you think you may be on to something.  More than half way into the movie, another twist occurred and I thought, "what the hell is going on?!" But that was okay because unlike crappy movies where the lack of continuity leads to exasperation, this confusion caused me to become more invested in whatever the heck was going on. I was curious as to how it would play out and if motivation for everyone's actions would be provided.  It's totally open to interpretation, so if you don't like a concrete ending, then you may not like this one. But it was weird and I enjoyed it.


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