Movie Review #2 - Dealer (2021)

Jeroen Perceval, who enjoyed greatness as an actor in Flanders, delivers a contemporary and confrontational movie about drugs that is an extension of this with his directorial debut: Dealer. A rock-solid story that takes place in a world where there are no winners.

In this movie, "the dealer" is the fourteen-year-old coarse-mouthed Johnny who has exchanged school for the hard nightlife in the port city of Antwerp. Johnny is the kind of guy you know in advance that it will never end well for him. He hardly sees his mother anymore, because of her psychosis means she ends up in a psychiatric hospital all the time. For that reason he lives in shelter for teenagers. Johnny is the toy of the drug supplier Luca, who is not of afraid of brutal violence. When Johnny crosses paths with popular film actor Antony, who is hopelessly on drugs himself, a brighter future lies ahead. At least, that is what you (as viewer) hope for... 

Ben Segers (Antony) is one of the most popular TV actors of Belgium and proves he can play the pig to his heart's content with explicit scenes that will make a lot of normal housewives blush. Besides that, Veerle Baetens (Eva)  and Bart Hollanders (Luca) steal the show with very expressive types of characters. Also Sverre Rous, who as the young Johnny has to carry the entire movie, knows exactly how to perform in front of a camera. 

Furthermore, the hardness and rawness are characteristic of the movie, in which violence, sex and drugs are not themes that are shunned. On the one hand, this is confrontational, but on the other hand it gives this movie an opportunity to make the movie appear pure and realistic. Unfortunately, it is difficult to really develop sympathy for the main characters, because the movie mainly focuses on the negative and focuses relatively little on the emotional bonds between different characters. As a results, the end of the movie does not carry the emotional charge, which it could have done. 

Conclusion and Rating

Dealer is a contemporary and raw film that gives a good and pure insight into the Belgian drug world, but lacks the emotion to really touch. The acting is very good from actually the entire main cast, which all together leads to a captivating drama. 

Rating: 6.5