Alex Voyeur

Alex Voyeur

1986

‘Abel’

Directed by Alex van Warmerdam

A well-to-do, thirty-something shut-in faces city life, family secrets and his own quirks when he is finally thrown out by his parents.

100 mins

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This Dutch film is crazy. Like the comedy is very nice, especially in the first half. Every moment (or sketch?) is very enjoyable. But from the moment that Abel leaves the house it becomes less funny and less absurd. It's still interesting now and then but the first half is definitely stronger. I feel like the first half is full of sketches and the second half has a consistent plot.
The acting is good, Alex van Warmerdam really knows what he's doing. The rest of the cast was good as well. I also liked the sound/music.
I loved Abel. Its absurdist dry comedy is right up my alley.
I’m pretty sure Giorgos Lanthimos must have seen this, as the influences on his brilliant Dogtooth, and his style in general are unmistakable. This was obviously a labour of love for director Alex van Warmerdam, particularly as he cast himself as the titular character.
Awkwardness usually sets my skin crawling. Right from the get go Abel was one awkward scene after another, but I didn't mind, the absurdity cut through and I was grinning ear to ear. Warmerdam seemed to going for scenes and situations rather than an overarching narrative, with each…
This is starting to become my favourite Dutch film ever made.
This film shows us what happens when a 31 year old 'boy' with no social skills whatsoever is thrust into the real world. Now, this might sound a bit cliché, but this is a film by Alex van Warmerdam. Nothing in his hands turns into a cliché.
Van Warmerdam is know for his absurdism. Originally a playwright, Abel is his first venture into the wonderful world of cinema. He clearly tries to find his footing here and treats most of the film as a play. And that's why this film works so well. The script, art-direction and performances are executed to perfection. This film, from its opening to its…
If you like (Jim Jarmusch movie) watch (Alex van Warmerdam movie)
Oh wow, Haven't expected to see one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Such a nice, pleasant and absurdic story about a 31 years old guy, Abel, who still live with his parents. He hasn't left his house for two years. He acts like a clown, and so does his father and his mother. All three are living their life the same way everyday. Same food, same trolls, same everything. All three want a change, and it comes. In the second half of the movie, the father gets mad and kicks out Abel of the house. The random use of colors made the atmosphere so amusing, stunning and entertaining, as absolutely everything else as everything here looks like theatrical…
Part of the 30 countries festival. The Netherlands
A dark twisted absurd comedy that could have been right up my alley and almost was until it turned into a really bad Carry-on movie, or perhaps more accurately a bad episode of some terrible British slapstick sketch comedy.
Abel is weird. He's 31, lives with his parents and will not leave the house. His mother licks his face and comes very close to liking her son a bit too much. His father hates him and argues with him all the time. That's the good part. The parents bring a girl over for an evening which turns out to be unbearably awkward and mildly amusing in parts. That's an ok part. But…
"Jullie spannen samen! Ik wist het wel...tegen mij. Waarom woon ik hier nog?!" "Omdat je een imbeciel bent, die niet naar buiten durft."
Abel is 32 years old, still lives with his parents, is afraid to go outside and spends some of his time indoors trying to cut flies in half mid-air with a pair of scissors. His father Victor is really fed up with Abel's behavior and it doesn't help that his mother Duif is still pampering him on a daily basis. At some point Victor has had enough and kicks Abel out on the streets. But when Victor's mistress takes him in, the father-son relationship is really going ballistic!
'Abel' is the debut of Alex van Warmerdam. It…
Dat was de druppel. Alex staat nu in het lijstje met favoriete regisseurs.
Las maquetas que sirven como decorado son un acierto. La metáfora de la mosca termina cerrando perfectamente.
Warmerdam es de lo mejor que descubrí en el 2020.
De la recta imaginaria que pudieramos trazar en el que el punto inicial fuese Aki Kaurismaki y el final Yorgos Lanthimos, se encuentra el especial universo de Alex Van Warmerdam, más conocido en nuestro país al llevarse el máximo galardón en Sitges por Borgman. "Abel" es como la otra cara de una misma moneda llamada "Canino": Una familia un tanto peculiar capaz de comer arenques crudos está desesperada, pues su hijo padece agorafobia y están deseando largarlo, para lo cual deciden apostar por terapias psicológicas un tanto sui generis, ligues insospechados que parecen poseídos por el Asperger más absoluto o por el simple y directo destierro. Un uso del color bastante atractivo, el empleo de la arquitectura para enmarcar a…
You start to wonder how Abel ends up so odd at the beginning of the film. Being 32, never leaving his parents home and flooded with anxieties and odd traits there is always a story behind that. But eventually as the film unspools and all the peculiarities of the parents show themselves you start to wonder why he isn't even odder. And it is that those peculiarities that they all share, yet somehow find a way to be at odds with that makes the family dynamic in Abel interesting. Their interactions reveal a family living in their own insular world that is just plain funny. Things like when in front of a guest they scoff down fish by dangling them…
This is way earlier than my other two Warmerdam films (Borgman and The Northerners). There's certainly a lot to enjoy here. While it lacks the frigid obsessiveness and cruelty of the two later films, it has a bizarre absurd energy that is attractive. A fair amount of dysfunctional family slapstick, and those blinding reds! The lighting in the homes and in the Naked Girls facility, the doors, interiors, outfits, rouge, lipstick. And doesn't Warmerdam here look more than a little like the young Denis Lavant?

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A 31-year-old man (Alex van Warmerdam) refuses to leave his parents' apartment until an argument leads to his eviction.

Alex van Warmerdam

Abel

Henri Garcin

Victor

Olga Zuiderhoek

Duif

Annet Malherbe

Zus

Loes Luca

Christine

Anton Kothuys

Magnetic Healer

Alex van Warmerdam

Director

Laurens Geels

Producer

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