one man and his dog
(de man met de hond)
feature film, 85′, 35 mm, colour
this beguiling tragicomedy explores a young man’s clumsy attempts at escaping his mundane existence by conjuring up an exciting, yet fictional, reality. kees is a rather goofy social misfit without much of a life. hoping to impress the co-workers at his new job, kees reconstructs an elaborate history, which includes a beautiful fiancée and a loving family, based on photos he compulsively steals on his nightly outings.
cast: ramsey nasr, monic hendrickx, viviane de muynck
script: bennie roeters
director of photography: rogier stoffers
production design: vincent de pater, floris vos
costume design: bernadette corstens
sound: roberto van eyden
editing: stefan kamp, marc nolens
music: fons merkies
dubbing mix: kees linthorst
producer: stienette bosklopper for circe films www.circe.nl
co-producing broadcaster nps televisie
Apon tells her tragi-comic story with pleasantly sparse dialogue, and with a lot of lovely implicit acting by Ramsey Nasr. (AD)
Film director Annette Apon has noticed Nasr’s aptitude for enticing and then completely bamboozle the spectator, and she has made the most of it in moulding the complex character. (Skrien)
The German audience at the Mannheim Film Festival laughed a lot, which is an indication that the film is much less typically Dutch than it looks. (HP/De Tijd)
The film is driven by a cool irony, which is gripping because one constantly senses that it is on the verge of exploding and which brings to mind the early films by Kaurismäki, between dead-pan and roars of laughter. (Le Monde)
Newcomer Nasr brings unforced comic grace to Kees. Set in a Dutch ‘burb that could be any medium-size town anywhere, pic is leisurely but never tedious. (Variety)
This is a clever and amusing story of self-exploration, longing and loneliness. All of the actors create a quirky band of oddballs so successfully that you will wonder at what point do their acting and real life personas diverge. (American Dreamer)
festivals (selection):
opening film festival du cinéma nordique rouen 1999
silver dolphin festival internacional de cinema de troia for best actor (ramsey nasr)
internationales filmfestival mannheim-heidelberg
mostra internacional de cinema sao paolo
festival de films de femmes créteil
vancouver international film festival
internationaal filmfestival van vlaanderen-gent
napolifilmfestival
world film festival montréal
women in cinema film festival seattle
mill valley film festival
international film festival rotterdam
international film festival of india new delhi