REVIEWS
PANORAMA
Belg. 2011. 129mins Director/screenplay Michael R Roskam Production companies Savage Film, Roskam Film International sales Celluloid Dreams, www.
celluloid-dreams.com Producer Bart Van Langendonck Cinematography Nicolas Karakatsanis Production designer Walter Brugmans Editor Alain Dessauvage Cast Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval, Jeanne Dandoy, Barbara Sarafian, Tibo Vandenborre, Frank Lammers, Robin Valvekens
Bullhead REVIEWED BY FIONNUALA HALLIGAN
Bullhead (Rundskop) is a disturbingly visceral male drama with a brooding central performance from Matthias Schoenaerts. It is a violent and complex work which requires the viewer to be completely engaged for 129 minutes as the intricacies of plot and character interact. While Bullhead is not for the faint-hearted, there is a signifi -
cant payoff for those who stay the course. With the right critical support, Celluloid Dreams could notch up interest from bold distributors looking for an upscale challenge. Major European territories should accept the Flemish/French dialogue, though English-speaking audiences may fi nd the Belgian topography challenging ground. Most reminiscent, perhaps, of Tom Hardy’s transformation in
Bronson, Schoenaerts bulks up shockingly to play the central role of Jacky Vanmarsenille, a hulking Flemish farmer in Limburgh. His performance, which will surely attract awards attention, is almost entirely internalised, and all the more remarkable for it. Jacky’s family breeds cattle and dabbles in illegal hormones
to enhance the quality of their meat. This is mirrored in Jacky’s own sparse life, as he abuses his body with testosterone and other drugs, for reasons which become slowly and painfully clear to the viewer. Directing his fi rst feature, Michael R Roskam has not made
things easy for his audience; a thuggish criminal gang circles around Jacky’s world. These men have murdered a policeman who tried to disband their hormone-smuggling mafi a. There is also a gay police informant called Die derik (confusingly, also called Ricky), who has multiple connections to Jacky’s life, includ- ing a vital part in a devastating incident which took place 20 years ago. And two hapless French-speaking mechanics, charged with destroying the getaway car, look set to inadvertently seal Jacky’s fate. A moment’s inattention will cost the viewer the plot. Much of the action in Bullhead takes place in darkened interi-
ors — a brutally tense sequence in a nightclub, for example, or the fi lm’s ultimate burst of violence, which is almost unwatcha- ble. The Flanders farmyards are a fl at and uncommenting back- drop to a sealed-off provincial life in which grudges are played out across the generations. Despite its stylistic fl ourishes — and this is a notably stylish
fi lm — all eyes are drawn to Schoenaerts as Jacky, the inarticu- late, disintegrating, fatally wounded ‘Bullhead’ of the title. Roskam depicts a world of men into which this man cannot enter; of animals and fl esh and impotence; of the very essence of maleness in the agricultural world. Schoenaerts, helped by young actor Robin Valvekens in the crucial fl ashback sequences, presents Jacky as a raging bull whose tragedy we can identify with even as his fury terrifi es us — and seals his own fate.
February 15, 2011 Screen International in Berlin 11 ■
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