As William Shakespeare (or someone else) so famously penned, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts…”. This has obvious connotations in terms of our own self-determination. We’re born, reach childhood, become an adult, starts families, age and eventually die. There’s an argument around nurture versus nature, but usually we make our own choices; for good or ill. In Nr.10, it takes on another meaning.
Günter’s (Tom Dewispelaere) life hasn’t quite turned out as he expected. There’s something missing, but he just can’t put his finger on what. He’s an actor in a small theatre company and one of the other members, Marius (Pierre Bokma), is seemingly blaming him for all his troubles. It’s not all bad though, he’s having an affair with one of the cast, Isabel (Anniek Pheifer), the partner of the director, Karl (Hans Kesting). Which isn’t quite as clandestine as he thinks.
It’s an almost impossible task to review Nr.10 without giving something away. If you’ve seen any of writer/director Alex van Warmerdam’s other films, you might have an inkling of where the plot goes from there; but probably not. While it’s an overused phrase, it really is best going in cold. While not everything works or really hits the mark, events unfold in bold, outlandish and unpredictable ways. Whatever your reaction to Nr.10, it can’t be accused of being boring.
Nr.10 is out in US cinemas on 2 December and on digital on 9 December.
