Touches You

Simply Perfect

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It took a while for me to see this flick, and I was already weary after seeing the publicity stills, but it was much worse than I expected. I cannot believe it is being rated as high as it is. The director, Steven De Jong, directed a lot of children's films and it shows. The movie contains some of the worst acting in The Netherlands, which is a pity because there are actually some decent actors involved. The score is awful, pompous and would better fit Gladiator. The film is full of clichés, expect one every five minutes. Anachronisms occur throughout the movie: Holland did not look like this in 1963 (I was there!) and one of the main characters has a eighties hairdo. And on top of it all, the fake snow they sprayed on everyone, oh my God!! Don't bother watching it, it will save you a lot of frustration. If you're in for a laugh, buy it!

This movie is absolutely dreadful in many ways !!a) As a movie of any kind, about any place, and about any event. (script , acting, plot, direction, etc – all are very, very poor indeed)b) an a "faction" account of a historical event (compare : depict concentration camps as holiday resorts and you get the idea.)c) as an alleged representation of a real country (a province) in 1963 (the date of the event). Go to Disney Land or another fantasy and be disappointed when seeing the real thing.If you see a commercial made by a local tourist bureau you expect that many things are made a bit "rosy" and more attractive than when you get there. Indeed, the scenes of the villages etc. are lovely …….. and false. AND INDEED, by golly, the local provincial governments (i.e. the taxpayers) DID put a lot of money in this movie. Yes, I am Dutch. Yes, I remember the winter of 1963. Yes, I myself skated on that day – although my "endurance" was a far cry from the participants of this 200 kilometers competition AND (simultaneous) "recreational" skaters. (Just a statistic: 9.862 people started, i.e. participated – 127 made it to the finish.)

I do not understand how some people can classify this a masterpiece. It's junk: the storyline(s), the dialogs, the editing, the year 1963 is not accurately portrayed.Some examples: One of the (young) female actors escapes by faking that she is an doctor of medicine. In 1963 female doctors were very rare. The girl is about 20/22 years of ages, but she is taken seriously in her profession.The automobiles in the movie have YELLOW license plates, which were not introduced in the Netherlands before the early '80. The plates in 1963 were BLUE. The movie makers did feel the urge to take a simple screwdriver to fix the accurate plates. It tells you something about the amount of effort the movie makers are willing to put in their masterpiece.Then there is the story, which is an assembly of 4 stories, portrayed by 4 individuals that meet on the ice (3 men and 1 woman). They all have the same goal: to finish the race. Good idea, but it does not work. There are some unnecessary sidelines that distract from the main story lines. As a viewer you are hopping between the 4 story lines without feeling the intended emotions. The music is rather good. It could have taken me if there was anything to cling to.The dialogs do not fit in the year 1963. The sentences are full of 21th-century-vocabulairy. People talked and behaved differently in 1963. The movie makers never seem to bother. So, the feeling of being in the 60ties did never hit me.The accidents on the ice are disappointing. Some scenes in the movie are just tasteless. One of the main characters gets very hungry on the ice and starts hallucinating. The visualization of this looks like a poorly made you tube clip.Some of the special effects were nice. The cold weather is visualized by wolves that run through the clouds. They seem to be edited randomly and do not come to their full potential, but it looked nice. The ice, snow and wind are well done, also.Overall, I am disappointed. A monumental ice race, like the Elfstedentocht, deserves more respect than this.

Even though I am Dutch, I am not a fan of Dutch Cinema. Therefore this movie surprised me even more than I had hoped for. I enjoyed every minute of this icy ride about the worlds longest ice-skating tour. Director Steven de Jong has provided new hope for Dutch cinema by doing an excellent job. The 'elfstedentocht'(tour of eleven cities) van '63 was a unique and timeless event that deserved a great film like this and I am happy to have experienced this. This whole movie is just excellent and two points deserve special attention regarding the history of Dutch Movies. One thing that has often irritated me in these movies is the unnatural acting. Actors are often acting too much instead of just being relaxed and natural in their role. The actors in this movie are not superior, but they are very natural. And that just makes them and the movie as a whole much more convincing. The second great thing is the camera-work. To give some grandeur to this movie the camera often swings into great heights, crawls under the ice and/or fades from a film-image to a map and vice-versa. The accompanying music creates effects not seen before in Dutch cinema. It really lifts this movie to another level and creates refreshing perspectives. Steven de Jong even portrayed the harsh element of wind in the form of luring icy animals. Something completely unexpected and until now unseen in Dutch movies.Altogether this is a great and unexpected arrival that gets a rating of nine. And I am looking forward to new releases that can match this one.