Review: "Boy 7" the movie

Movie: Boy 7
Release Date: February 19th 2015
Language: Dutch
Director: Lourens Blok
Based on: “Boy 7” by Mirjam Mous
Stars: Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen, Ella-June Henrard and Tygo Gernandt

This is the first ever movie review of Dutch Book Chick and I’m happy to say that it’s a special movie I’m reviewing! Boy 7 is based on the Dutch YA novel “Boy 7” by Mirjam Mous. As you might have read, last week I went to the theater performance of “Boy 7” which was very cool and artsy. Today I went to the ‘press premiere’ of the Boy 7 movie. I won 2 tickets and went to Amsterdam with roommate and Dutch Book Chick co-author Esther. We were very impressed by the movie!

Since I usually feature a small synopsis of Goodreads while reviewing books, I’ll add a summary from IMDb for movies from now on (duh, first movie review, whatever). Here it is:

“When Sam regains consciousness in the middle of a crowded subway, he doesn’t know how he got there, where he came from nor his own name. He franticly searches for his identity, using the contents of his backpack. Slowly but surely he realizes his life is in great danger.” [IMDb]

I’d like to add a side note to the plot summary since it doesn’t completely agree with the movie. In the book, Sam IS using his backpack to try and find his identity. In the movie, the backpack is of much less importance. Just so you know the difference!

The movie starts off with Sam (whom’s name we do not know then) in a metro. He’s totally confused and suddenly followed by the police, but he’s got NO clue why. A red headed girl follows him and helps him getting away from the police. They hide in an apartment. Up until this moment, I was totally confused. And not because I didn’t know because Sam didn’t know anything. I was confused because the book was so different.

I tried to find peace with the fact that the movie would be different from the book, and tried to enjoy the movie without comparing it to the book all the time – it worked.

I found myself sucked up in the movie and loved it without having to try. The actor were AMAZING and it didn’t bother me at all that the movie was Dutch. Normally, there are these standard – status quot – Dutch movies. But this movie wasn’t.

The red line of the book was the same compared to the movie. Sam didn’t know who he was, where he came for and what the F he was doing – whatever that we. We find out what happened through a note book he wrote and while he reads it, we see the flashbacks. This was a good thing that made the book so freaking exciting. It worked for the movie, too.

The people who made Sam loose his memory had a completely different motive in the book, but the motive they had in the movie worked pretty good – for a movie. After seeing the whole thing, I got to that conclusion. Yes, sure, they mixed it up and changed some big things. But at the other hand, it worked. It worked pretty well.

The movie was fast paced, funny, exciting and thrilling, all at the same time. We didn’t have a break at the cinema, because that wasn’t necessary. You can watch the movie without a break. You feel like you’ve only been there for just a couple of minutes. Was I surprised? YES! Totally!

Since I got a chance to see the movie 3 weeks before it’s official release, I’d like to recommend ya’ll to go see it! Even people from America and other parts of Europe and the world have a chance to see it! Boy 7 is going global, seriously! I’m not kidding. Just click this link: http://www.telegraaf.nl/filmenuitgaan/film/23610442/__Nederlandse_film_Boy_7_naar_meer_festivals__.html

In a nutshell:
Liked it: YES
Loved it: YES
Re-watch: YES
Cinema worthy*: YES

*worth the damn movie ticket plus expensive popcorn