Swimming paradise (2009)

Directed by: Lodewijk Crijns | 10 minutes | short film | Actors: Marieke Lindhout, Sem de Vlieger

With ‘Zwemparadijs’, director Lodewijk Crijns seems to want to hold up a mirror to us. It’s amazing how the filmmakers have managed to describe and capture those typical annoying swimming pool situations. Just like in many amusement parks, fairs or other public events, it seems that it is mainly the (young) adults who behave like children, instead of the children themselves. Like some other great film makers (Michiel van Erp, Bert Haanstra), it is also Crijns who makes us understand our behavior with a subtle reflection. Crijns, who of course works very differently, turns these typically Dutch situations into a short feature film, seen through the eyes of two young girls.

Swimming Paradise contains annoyingly entertaining scenes because they are more than recognizable. And then the typecasting; the extras and actors in ‘Zwemparadijs’ are the typical figures you would expect in such a swimming pool. As if they haven’t been away since your last visit to the tropical pool. Take the overweight busty boy or the tanning colored bodybuilder: humor and reality go hand in hand. Crijns seems to be looking for that recognizable reality. During his studies he made the film ‘Kutzooi’ in which fiction and documentary were closely linked. It earned him a selection place for the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2001, Crijns and Kim van Kooten won a Golden Calf for the Best Screenplay for the film ‘With great joy’.