The Return Journey is a new drama comedy directed and partly written by Jelle de Jong, director of the first Bon Bini Holland and Weg van jou.
Jaap (Martin van Waardenberg) has been together with his partner Maartje (Leny Breederveld) for almost 50 years. Jaap has also become a little more bitter over the years and Maartje is increasingly suffering from dementia. Despite these setbacks, the two decide to go to Spain to visit an old friend.
With this film, the director and co-writer show that Dutch films do not always have to be the same kind of romantic comedy, but there is also room for more serious drama comedies like this. At the beginning of this month, for example, the film Buenas Chicas was released with characters who also travel to Spain, but ended up as a well-known standard romantic comedy filled with clichés. It's nice to see that a film like The Return Journey shows that other types of films can also come from the Netherlands.
This film is also more about an older couple, who have a whole life history together and still carry it with them. This also makes them more interesting characters to keep following for about an hour and a half. Due to the limited playing time, the balance between drama and comedy is sometimes lost and the director and co-writer do not always seem to know exactly which of the two genres to highlight most.
Despite this, Martin Waardenberg and Leny Breederveld manage to portray their roles well in the film. Martin comes across well as a more sullen, older man who prefers to take it easy, but who carries a touch of dry humor. Leny then plays a more cheerful old lady, who still wants to try everything, but suffers from an early form of dementia, which means she no longer always knows exactly what she is doing or should do. This can provide comical moments, but can also seem a bit worrying, because dementia should not really be something you can always laugh about.
Jaap (Martin van Waardenberg) has been together with his partner Maartje (Leny Breederveld) for almost 50 years. Jaap has also become a little more bitter over the years and Maartje is increasingly suffering from dementia. Despite these setbacks, the two decide to go to Spain to visit an old friend.
With this film, the director and co-writer show that Dutch films do not always have to be the same kind of romantic comedy, but there is also room for more serious drama comedies like this. At the beginning of this month, for example, the film Buenas Chicas was released with characters who also travel to Spain, but ended up as a well-known standard romantic comedy filled with clichés. It's nice to see that a film like The Return Journey shows that other types of films can also come from the Netherlands.
This film is also more about an older couple, who have a whole life history together and still carry it with them. This also makes them more interesting characters to keep following for about an hour and a half. Due to the limited playing time, the balance between drama and comedy is sometimes lost and the director and co-writer do not always seem to know exactly which of the two genres to highlight most.
Despite this, Martin Waardenberg and Leny Breederveld manage to portray their roles well in the film. Martin comes across well as a more sullen, older man who prefers to take it easy, but who carries a touch of dry humor. Leny then plays a more cheerful old lady, who still wants to try everything, but suffers from an early form of dementia, which means she no longer always knows exactly what she is doing or should do. This can provide comical moments, but can also seem a bit worrying, because dementia should not really be something you can always laugh about.