Penalty

I can't say that I've heard of Pieter Van Hees before, but now that I've seen this short movie, I'm convinced that the man has some talent as a director and a writer. This short movie only takes 50 minutes of your time, but you'll get to see a couple of interesting and believable situations and some well-developed and recognizable characters.

The movie starts with Thierry during a match of soccer. He just has been tackled and will have to take a penalty kick. During the time that he needs to prepare himself, he sees an episode of his life flashing by. He thinks of how he first met Charlotte, a young student who was having a drink with a couple of her friends, sitting outside a café. When he meets them again later on that evening, he wants to buy her flowers from a Russian lady in the street. But he doesn't have any money to pay for them, so she pays. Because he wants to give her something in return, he takes her out for dinner. They soon start a relationship and almost immediately she moves in with him. But Thierry isn't the great and lovable man he appeared to be at first. He's aggressive, uses drugs and seems to be involved with some shady practices. And it doesn't take long before he starts treating her bad. At first she still seems to be able to cope with it, but as soon as he starts hitting her, she ends their relationship...

Despite the fact that it is very obvious that this movie has been shot with a very small budget, I must say that Van Hees has done a fine job with it. Somehow he was able to cast a couple of well-known Flemish actors and together they have made this short movie worth watching. Peter Van den Begin is very good as the abusive and aggressive boyfriend Thierry and Nele Bauwens is well-casted as Charlotte.

I'm sure that some people believe that this is a situation that could never happen, but I know better. One of my friends constantly makes bad choices when it comes to men and she too has been hurt too often, but somehow she always seems to want them back... So seeing this in this movie felt quite familiar to me. Perhaps that's also the reason why I like this movie.

It may be short, but it sure is worth watching for several reasons. A good and believable story with some fine acting make sure that this movie is better than average. I give it a 7.5/10, wondering what it would have been like if it had been 90 minutes long.