Review: De Patrick

• BE, dir.: Tim Mielants, act.: Kevin Janssens, Pierre Bokma, Bouli Lanners, Josse De Pauw

Kevin Janssens (D’Ardennen) is “our” Patrick, the ambitionless son of the managers of a naturist camp.

Instead of mourning ostentatiously when his father suddenly dies and taking over the reins at the campsite, he obsessively looks for his lost hammer. The fact that all the characters are naked is the least strange thing about the first feature-length film by Tim Mielants (Peaky Blinders).

The director dares to rub you the wrong way and creates an atmosphere in which everything seems just beyond grasp. His film is both funny and tragic. The script prevents it from being truly great, but its peculiarity stays with you and that bodes well for Mielants’s future.