On Sunday, December 18, 2011, Cinema Art Bethesda will present the Belgian film, The Over the Hill Band (Meisjes). The film is 93 minutes long and in Flemish with English subtitles.
Synopsis
The Over the Hill Band is the story of a seventy year old woman (Marilou Mermans) who used to sing in a girls band when she was much, much younger. After the death of her husband, she decides to go on stage again. She asks her rebel son – down and out R&B musician Sid (Jan Van Looveren) – to help her start a new band with two girlfriends from the old days. Sid would rather drown in the North Sea than share the stage with mommy dearest, but in the end he agrees. On one condition: it has to be his music.
The Over the Hill Band is a dramatic comedy directed by Geoffrey Enthoven (The Only One). The screenplay is written by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem (Moscow, Belgium) and Chris Craps (Crusade in Jeans). Pascal Garnier and Stef Caers wrote swinging RNB versions of some classic pop tunes.
Actors Marilou Mermans and Jan Van Looveren are joined by Lucas Vanden Eynde, Lut Tomsin, Lea Couzin, Barbara Sarafian, Greg Timmermans, Jurgen Delnaet and François Beukelaars in supporting roles.
(adapted text from official site)
Selected Awards and Accolades
Nomination
Film Presented – 2010 Seattle International Film Festival
Film Presented – 2010 Cinequest Film Festival
Selected Reviews
The Village Voice
— Andrew Schenker
Enthoven and his screenwriters walk a fine line between celebrating the vitality of the elderly and asking us to laugh at their youthful affectations, twice embarrassing his three septuagenarians by forcing them to sing along to Technotronic’s “Pump Up the Jam.” But even if these “look at those wacky seniors” moments predominate, there’s still a genuine sense of saddened empathy for the marginalized elders—even a (timid) acknowledgment of their still vital libidos.
Arizona Republic
– Kerry Lengel
Despite the silly-sounding premise, it’s a wistful, bittersweet meditation on aging and death. It has its laughs – as when Sid brings a boom box to the church to play a sample of his obscenity-laced rap for the ladies – but a zany, feel-good comedy it’s not. It’s just a subtler sensibility those Europeans have. The acting is restrained, the story stays under the top, and hand-held cameras shake almost imperceptibly, giving a whiff of verite with no danger of going full Greengrass.
Trailer available on Official Site or watch embedded YouTube video below.
