Just Friends (2018)

Directed by: Ellen Smit | 90 minutes | comedy | Actors: Majd Mardo, Josha Stradowski, Jenny Arean, Tanja Jess, Nazmiye Oral

Sometimes you see his name on the credits of a movie: Alan Smithee. This is not an actual person, but a pseudonym used by film directors who do not want to be featured on the title role. The reason for this is usually that they no longer recognize themselves in their work, for example because too much has been tinkered with in the post-production phase. In 1997 a parody of this phenomenon was released, ‘An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn’. Director Arthur Hiller – ironically – had his name removed from the credits, prompting the American directors’ association Director’s Guild of America to no longer recognize the pseudonym Alan Smithee; directors must take responsibility for their work, even if the film did not turn out as they had in mind. The Dutch film has its own variant: Ellen Smit. The best-known example of a Dutch director who had her name removed from the credits because she couldn’t agree with the final product is Rita Horst. She had her name removed from the title role of the youth film ‘IEP!’ (2010). Annemarie van de Mond, best known as the director of the Telefilm ‘HannaHannaH’ (2007) and TV series such as ‘The girls of the Herengracht’ and ‘The men tester’, is now following in Horst’s footsteps. Due to a disagreement with the creative team over the direction of the film, she had her name removed from the end credits of the Telefilm ‘Just Friends’ (2018). So there is now the name… Ellen Smit.

The theme of the 2018 Telefilms series is ‘Love’, which is certainly central to the romantic comedy ‘Just friends’. Yad (Majd Mardo) has stopped studying medicine because he finds the Amsterdam nightlife – with all its temptations – too attractive. His overprotective and strict mother (Nazmiye Oral) summons him to return home to put his life back in order. Joris (Josha Stradowski) is constantly at odds with his plastic surgery-addicted mother Simone (Tanja Jess) and, moreover, has still not properly dealt with the death of his father – ten years ago. And now that his mother refuses to pay any more money for the storage of the urn with his ashes, the grief from then is rekindled. While Joris lugs the urn, Yad has to look for a job. He finds it in home care, where he can immediately start working with Ans (Jenny Arean), who happens to be Joris’s grandmother. Right from their first eye contact, there is a huge tension between the two twenty-somethings and soon they meet for the first time. The two fall madly in love with each other, but except for grandma Ans, their families don’t seem to be particularly enthusiastic. Yad and Joris come from completely different worlds. Yad’s parents fled from Syria to the Netherlands with their two children and are determined to succeed here; that he likes boys is not easy for them to accept, but coming home with the ordinary muscle bundle Joris is not a good idea. Simone absolutely does not like a son-in-law of foreign descent. Their families drive a wedge between the infatuated boys and it is questionable whether things can ever come together between two boys who are so different.

The main asset of ‘Just Friends’ is the chemistry between protagonists Majd Mardo and Josha Stradowski. In summer atmospheric images we see Yad giving surf lessons to Joris, the two rides on Joris’s motorcycle and grow closer to each other. Those scenes work, because they show the blossoming love between the two boys at its purest. The actors have enough charisma – especially Majd splashes off the screen – and often don’t even need words to tell their story; Moreover, it is interesting that Yad has now completely accepted his orientation and that the tough Joris can still make some profit in that respect. The families around it are mainly a distraction from what really matters. The characters are rather caricatured – especially the hysterical Simone and the down-to-earth grandmother Ans are stereotypical flat Amsterdammers who try to solve everything with humor. Unfortunately for the film, that humor doesn’t quite work. Yad’s parents are not developed enough to actually leave their mark on the whole and the sisters of the two boys are even less discussed. The screenplay leaves something to be desired here and there; for example, the storyline surrounding Joris’s deceased father is not fully worked out satisfactorily, while in fact it plays a crucial role in the boy’s mood swings and fickleness. It now remains too much on the surface.

It is somehow conceivable that director Van de Mond has distanced himself from ‘Just friends’; the film is unbalanced and seems to be in two minds. Had the choice been made to focus solely on the boys, and omit the enlarged side characters (or at least marginalize their roles), the film would have been stronger and more convincing. Nevertheless, the film offers the two young protagonists Mardo and Stradowski a great opportunity to show what they have to offer.