Reviews

Fair Trade is written and directed by Belgian director Marc Punt, who is known from Matroesjka's (Matrioshki). As with Matrouska's, Fair Trade contains dark comedy, nudity, organized crime and corrupt officers, though the focus is on the cocaine trade, not on prostitution.

Most notable is Peter Van Den Begin who plays a role based on his almost legendary character 'Ray Van Mechelen' from Matroesjka's. His likeable performance gives the show some comic relief between all the gunfights and hard drug abuse.

But no matter how strong such a character is, it wouldn't survive on its own, and luckily for Fair Trade, there are many other good performances to be found. Police duo Wally and Robin (Kevin Janssens and newcomer Ella-June Henrard) never disappoint, as well as Axel Daeselaire (who also played in Matroesjka's). Even in the supporting cast there are no weak spots to be found. So in terms of acting, this thriller is notably good.

The plot events though are not very credible, even though it's based on true events (cocaine trade in Antwerp, maffia, bribes). With this type of series, you have to go with the flow, and don't think too much about the impossibilities of the plot. It could also have used an episode or 2 more to really round up the story, cause there are some questions left unanswered (maybe for a second season?).

I certainly recommend Fair Trade to fans of the genre. Excellent binge material as well.

After a strong second season and a good third season, WTFock loses its grip in the forth season. Each season revolves around one of the main characters and their love life. This time, for inexplicable reason, the writers chose to focus on a brand-new character, one who wasn't even in the original Skam series.

Although I was hoping for a series around the clever Muslim Yasmina (which would have resulted in something original), we got the rather superficial Kato Fransen (Romi Van Rentergem) instead. She was introduced as an Instagram diva, but there was only little material to make that credible. Instagrammers are bus yday and night with their image , but for Kato this seemed like an afterthought. Moreover, she looked pretty average and had only a few qualities that could make us believe that she really had that many followers. I kept on thinking it would turn out that she would have bought her followers in China.

Consequently, the best scenes in the fourth season are the ones in which Kato does not play a major role. Scenes with stars such as Zoë, Yasmina and Milan. It is also a pity that Zoë (Veerle Dejaeger) only got little material to work with, and that the character took an inexplicable turn halfway through the season (and brutally ended an otherwise interesting storyline).

What bothered me the most is the morals that the writes want to display so emphatically, especially around social media and racism. Because - guess what? - social media divas also don't have an easy life, and people from little villages sometimes dare to talk about "that kind of people".

A strength of WTFock is the "real time" of the story. The scenes take place at the time when they are first broadcast. Covid-19 was notably present, and WTFock can call itself the first fiction series that integrated mouth masks and social distancing in its story. Still, you can feel the hand of the government in the scenarios, because all the characters stick, like civilized teenagers, to the rules. Just visit the affiliated website watwat.be and you know what I mean. Though, it was realistic that everyone in class wore a mask, and no one in the corridors.

WTFock is still perhaps the best teen series that Flanders has ever made (compare the quality for instance, with "Wat Nu Weer?" from the 90s). The producers must however focus more on the story and the depth of the characters, and less on trying to give moral lessons. Please don't let the series become a vehicle of the government youth service, this is a teen series for fock's sake.

Flemish political thriller Black-Out is about a sabotage at a nuclear power plant, causing a blackout though Western Europe. We follow the prime-minister and the chief of anti-terrorism to see how they handle the situation.

Despite having a strong cast, the show never lifts itself to a level we've seen in other Flemish shows such as De Twaalf or Tabula Rasa.

The scenario is often unbelievable, the dialogues forced and a lot of characters miss depth and proper motivation. The actors can only do so much to make up for that. As a result, they all played better roles in other series. For instance, if you compare the colorful depth Ruth Becquart gave to character Sandy in Chaussée d'Amour, with the one-dimensional detective Natalie Maes she performs in Blackout, it's hard to believe we're talking about the same actress. Yet, her performance is among the better ones this show has to offer.

On top of that it's hard to make sense out of the actions of the perpetrators and the prime-minister. This makes you look at the show from a distance instead of being absorbed by it.

There are some missed opportunities, we never really see how the population is dealing with the crisis. There's certainly no apocalypse happening, it's all business as usual. A minister even throws a fancy garden party during the first night of the blackout. People apparently have big stashes of candles, food and patience. This scream for a satirical "100 things I learned from"-list.

Black-Out does offer the occasional thrill, a particular late night pursuit is well executed and can be considered the highlight of the show, but at its best Black-Out is only mildly entertaining.

It's hard to explain what Studio Tarara is exactly about. On one level it's a behind the scenes drama of a fictional sketch show that supposedly aired on VTM in 1993. The timeframe and setting allow a ton of 90's pop references and the show even tangles itself into former real VTM shows, mixing old with new footage. People who grew up with VTM in that era will discover a lot of nostalgic winks and hear songs they haven't heard in years. Contrary to other shows such as "Tegen De Sterren Op", Studio Tarara makes the deliberate choice to not really mock or spoof, but handles its source material with respect, which only contributes to the quality.

Yet, Studio Tarara is not simply a nostalgia show. Through flash-forwards we see a police investigation about the death of a crew member. The identity of this character is unknown and the investigation to what happened is presented in an original way. We see an officer going through a selection of VHS tapes containing interviews of the crew taken after the incident. Through these tapes, the viewer can deduct who died.

Though, even without the investigation Studio Tarara would still be worth it, because of its excellent acting, the humor in the sketches (some are obviously a bit lame but others are genuinely funny) and the depth of the characters, who are all somewhat sad or losing their grip (while having to perform funny sketches).

Studio Tarara is also progressive enough to integrate a story-line about sexual abuse in showbiz (portrayed by a creepy Peter Van Den Begin) and about drug and alcohol abuse among stars. Cause above all, Studio Tarara is about the sharp contrast between the glamorous front-side of showbiz and the abusive and depressing lives of the people involved.

In essence, VTM produced their own fictional story, and they pulled that off in a way they wouldn't have been able to 25 years ago. By doing so, they indirectly emphasize their own growth as a TV-channel.

The biggest problem with this movie is the expectations it came with. It wouldn't be all too bad if this was an underground movie from an debuting director. But, knowing it came from the director of the beloved Pan's Labyrinth and even won an Oscar, things start to feel jittery. The story is like a mix between Beauty And The Beast and Free Willy(!), with a sauce of Amélie Poulain. It is especially the latter reference that makes this movie charming in the beginning. Though, as the story progresses, it gets predictable and the characters become superficial. There are some nice shots here and there (the flooding bathroom scene), but as The National would sing, we expected something more.

I came across this rather obscure title in my local library. I'm a fan of psychological horror movies and the description of The Unknown spoke to me. It's made by a couple of friends who decided to shoot a horror in a week time with a tight budget. The acting is surprisingly good and the actors used their real first names as their character names. The scenario inherits elements from its teachers: there's some Alien, some Body Snatchers and some The Thing. The sometimes shaky camera, the forest setting and the low budget approach may remind you of The Blair Witch Project, a movie that was released in the same year and sadly overshadowed this movie.

My opinion? The Swedes pulled it off great. It's one of my favorites in the genre. But before you think this is the new Alien, I must say that The Unknown doesn't come close to the perfection of those classic Hollywood productions. It has certain flaws (some plot twists are textbook examples, some questions are left unanswered), but, and this is of most importance, the atmosphere is right, the tension is ever present and you can really be "in" the movie.

I also recommend this to fans of blond Swedish women in red turtlenecks.