SOMER SON
DIRECTOR: Clinton Lubbe
CAST: Reynard Slabbert, Juanita de Villiers, Anne O’Kennedy, Hanna Grobler, Bok van Blerk, Danie Putter, Stefan Vermaak
CLASSIFICATION: 7 PG V
RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes
RATING: *
OH LOOK, it is yet another clichéd, meandering rom-com, this time seemingly inspired by the idea that someone wanted to take a holiday in pretty Mozambique.
So, gathering a group of actor friends, off they set and started filming.
Then some more people pitched up and well, there’s still no storyline.
Instead, what we have is a would-be existential crisis, more beach sand and palm trees, and ooh, let’s ask a local black man to come and make us drinks for R30, because apparently, that is what you do in Mozambique.
Oh yes, remember to bribe the guy at the border because that is what we do in these here African parts. And no, this is not a reality horror show.
Would-be existential crisis comes courtesy of the leads who are trying to have a baby. Pieter (Slabbert) has had a vasectomy though and not told his wife, Sonja (De Villiers), who has her own secrets… though this only comes out as an afterthought and isn’t integral to anything pretending to be a plot.
Her bestie… what’s her name? Ok. Right. Mia (O’Kennedy). Anyway, Mia has dragged along hottie of the week, who loves his biceps. Then, Bok van Blerk pitches up, followed by the pretty boy from Mooirivier (Putter).
People sit around and talk about nothing in particular, no one is particularly funny, so forget any pretence at comedy.
What about romance? None of these people seem particularly vested in each other or enamoured of anything but getting another fruit drink.
undefinedSoundtrack? The film is called Somer Son but the theme song starts off with the words “in die winter van my hart” which translates to “in the winter of my heart” and it doesn’t get any more memorable than that.
Particular…yes, that word is being overworked here. Why am I being so picky? Clearly a lot of money has been spent on the making of this film; we are talking an out-of-country shoot, lots of swimming costumes for the girls, pretty food shots, even a pick-up soccer games with the kiddies, but what was the point?
Only a handful of South African films get made, fewer get onto the circuit and, yes, critics expect better and the paying public deserves more.
Pad Na Jou Hart showed what originality in the script can do for a road trip movie.
Ballade vir ’n Enkeling may be a remake, but the filmmakers concentrated on the relationships in the story and it worked (and that soundtrack helped along the emotional atmosphere, it wasn’t just tacked on to sell CDs).
Die Windpomp tried a different style (fantasy romance) and succeeded.
What the audience responds to in film is a story – whether it plays out in the words or the pictures – and the success of the previous local movies shows it can be done.
In Somer Son, there are events and happenings and things that the characters do and say, but the story linking them proves elusive. Acting ranges from “rabbit caught in the headlight” to “what am I doing here, show me the money already”, and there are no fireworks or tension – emotional, dramatic or otherwise – to be found at any point.
It isn’t even inoffensive like Mooirivier or Boer Soek Vrou and doesn’t even get a second star for the nice beach because what is so surprising about South Africans exploiting Mozambique?
If you liked Between Friends, you will like this.