Review: Wolf: A week with Appa & Sjaak (2013)

Directed by: Noël Schoolderman | 28 minutes | music, documentary

Anyone who has seen Jim Taihuttu’s Dutch crime thriller “Wolf” knows that the music is an inseparable part of the film, which accounted for three Golden Calves. The artists responsible for the soundtrack, the Amsterdam rapper duo Appa and Sjaak, took up residence in the apartment at Auriollaan 104 in Utrecht’s Kanaleneiland district for a week (the neighbors are apologized for the noise nuisance in the final credits). They literally took over the house keys from protagonist Marwan Kenzari and Jim Taihattu, who lived in the Utrecht apartment during the filming for the film in the winter of 2012/2013. Noël Schoolderman followed the two gentlemen closely and thus records the process of the creation of film music.

“Wolf: A week with Appa & Sjaak” was shot in the same moody black and white as “Wolf”. It usually produces beautiful images, short shots of the environment, close-ups of the artists, who tell their story in front of the camera, or are busy making music, eating, sleeping, playing football with the local youth and smoking, especially smoking a lot. . The swirling smoke is beautiful to see, but after about ten times those shots do start to disturb. Not only Appa and Sjaak talk about the making of the album, colleagues like Winne (with whom they recorded “Beautiful fall”) and MocroManiac, Feis and Rotjoch (can be heard on 101Barbaarz) come in front of the camera. Actor Nasrdin Dchar even records his debut as a singer, something he was previously very insecure about, according to the docu, but which is nothing to be ashamed of.

What is most striking about the music documentary is the relaxed atmosphere in which the tracks are made. There is no time pressure, at least, it does not appear that way, but the creativity comes out naturally. The duo strengthens and inspires each other and it cannot but have been a good move to let the two of them live together for a week.

The documentary was already distributed on the internet in five parts, but is now included as an extra feature on the very comprehensive Limited 3-Disc edition of “Wolf”. For fans of Dutch hip-hop music in general and Appa & Sjaak in particular, ‘Wolf: A week with Appa & Sjaak’ is very interesting, but fans of the film ‘Wolf’ will certainly be able to take a look behind the scenes of this album production. appreciate.