Longer Light (2006)

Directed by: David Lammers | 83 minutes | drama | Actors: Raymond Thiry, Dai Carter, Melody Klaver, Rian Gerritsen, Mike Meijer, Monique Sluyter, Hamza Essalih, Maartje Beets, Trifa Ismaeil, Younes Aouladbouchth, Fikret Koç, Leo Ockeloen, Victor Sams

Amsterdam-North is a special location. Part of the big city, but then again not. There is no bridge between this district and the center, there is only a ferry that connects the two parts of the city. In addition, you are already in the polder within a few minutes by bike from Amsterdam-North. These elements of Amsterdam-North appealed to David Lammers and made him decide to make his film ‘Langer Licht’.

The film shows us the story of a father and a son, who together have to cope with the loss of their mother (wife) and sister (daughter). The fact that they both deal with it in completely different ways causes Lucien (Raymond Thiry) to “lock himself” in his boxing gym and ignore his son. The story is small, little happens. It also takes a long time before the viewer realizes what is actually going on between the two. It’s only when Mitchell (Dai Carter) tells his girlfriend what exactly happened halfway through the film that you begin to understand the situation of the two better. This lack of clarity in the beginning makes the denouement all the more beautiful.

‘Langer Licht’ gives a nice picture of the multi-cultural society in the Netherlands, because David Lammers got a large part of his cast from the working-class district of Amsterdam. The film implicitly shows that different cultures can also coexist very well. If there is anything to criticize about ‘Langer Light’, it could be that this cast does not always act as strong, but the lead actors make up for this. In addition, the strength of the film lies in the beautiful shots that Lammers makes and in the rock-solid soundtrack.

‘Langer Licht’ is a good example of the development that is going on in Dutch film. No exaggerated action, just subtlety. This subtlety makes a film like ‘Langer Licht’ extra strong.