The celluloid wonder

by Boyd Van Hoeij

24/11/2005 - Martin Koolhoven was born in 1969 in The Hague. After an unsuccessful stint at a carpenter’s school, he ended up at the Amsterdam Film Academy, form which he graduated in 1996. He was already a well-known film expert back then, digesting about four films a day; it was rumoured at the Academy that Koolhoven had celluloid running through his veins. His real breakthrough came in 1999 with Suzy Q, a TV film about a darkly absurd family in the 1970s that also launched the career of actress Carice van Houten. The film won three prizes at the Biarritz international festival of audiovisual programming (for best actor, screenplay and best fiction) as well as best actor and actress awards at the Dutch film festival.

Recognition for his thespians has become a hallmark of Koolhoven’s work, with Variety noting that "[the director] is known for eliciting top-notch performances from his actors". Koolhoven’s filmography also shows his interest in different genres; his 2001 film AmnesiA was a magical realist outing, De grot (The cave, also from 2001) a psychological thriller based on a literary bestseller, and Het zuiden (South, from 2004) was marked by a harrowing realism somewhere between the Belgian Dardenne brothers and Danish DOGME. Het Zuiden won actress Monic Hendrickx her third best actress Golden Calf as well as the best actress prize at the recent Rouen Nordic film festival. The film was also selected for Valladolid and won the Audience Award at Viareggio.

Despite critical acclaim, Koolhoven’s films have played mainly in arthouse cinemas; though a film set in a multicultural environment has certainly changed that. Het Schnitzelparadijs [trailer, film focus] is his first broad comedy and the crowd-pleaser has made more money in its first week of release than the total of all of Koolhoven’s previous films combined. The director has said that he is relieved that his mother will finally be able to say "My son made Het Schnitzelparadijs" rather than "My son does something with difficult films". At least, according to the director, the neighbours will be able to say: "Het Schnitzelparadijs? Your son? Of course I know that film!".

Filmographie

Knetter, 2005
Het Schnitzelparadijs, 2005
Het Zuiden, 2004
De Grot, 2001
Amnesia, 2001
Suisy Q, 1999
Duister Licht, 1997
Vet Heftig - de video, 1997
De Orde Der Dinger, 1996, short film
KOEKKOEK, 1995, short film
Chess, 1993, short film