Head up (2022)

Directed by: Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen | 50 minutes | animation, family | Original voice cast: Nasrdin Dchar, Steye van Dam, Paulien Cornelisse, Fockeline Ouwerkerk, Soundos El Ahmadi, Sabri Saad El Hamus

Trinity Job, Joris and Marieke make beautiful, inventive animation films, with which they also score highly internationally. For example, their short ‘A Single Life’ (2014) was nominated for an Oscar and ‘Kop Op’ (2017), a 20-minute animated film, cashed in the nomination for the International Emmy Kids Awards in 2018. The universe that the trio created with this film, offered so much potential that a series was a logical consequence. And so ‘Kop on’ the series became a fact.

For those who are not familiar with the short: ‘Kop op’ is about three teenage friends: Marjolein, Sef and Wesley. Not only do they go to school together, they also like to spend their free time together. They have converted an abandoned caravan into an unofficial ‘clubhouse’. One day they come across a discarded washing machine nearby. By chance they discover something horrifying and fantastic at the same time: if you look with your head in the washing machine, you lose your head. But the next person who puts his head in, gets your head! The head of that second person can then end up on the first, or even a third person… Although the voices do not ‘go along’ with the head, the trio deceives many a family member and they can take each other’s place if necessary . super handy!

‘Kop op’ – the cinema film – is a selection of five episodes of the TV series, each of about ten minutes. The film consists of introductory movie ‘Washing Machine’ (so that you know and understand how the friends discover the secret of this magical device); ‘Bassie’ (in which Sef accidentally gets the head—uh, the head—from a stray dog); ‘Klusvlog’ (in which Marjolein and Wesley switch heads, because Wesley has a crush on Marjolein’s sister and wants to show her his vlog, but doesn’t dare to do so as herself); ‘Tongen’ (in which Wesley’s love for Marjolein’s sister goes a step further with Sef’s help) and ‘Ramadan’, in which Sef’s cousins ​​are visiting from Morocco and make it even more difficult for him during the already difficult Ramadan ).

The common thread in the films is that changing the head is sometimes done consciously, sometimes accidentally, but that the situations almost always have a positive effect. Putting yourself literally in the other person’s shoes provides the teenagers with insights that they can learn from. However, this message is by no means overstated. The stubborn, but for connoisseurs of the work of these talented filmmakers now very recognizable animation style, is detailed (for example, pay attention to the traffic sign in the park or the posters on the wall) and although it is nowhere realistic, certain environments are so recognizable (the coat hooks in school, the layout of the schoolyard, the houses where the friends live), that it also immediately feels familiar. It’s great that these videos can be admired on the silver screen. More fans for this double trio: Sef, Marjolein and Wesley and Job, Joris and Marieke!