Diagonaldi Very well executed

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

relate-47835 Thus movie was strange. So, while in USA we are inundated with silly, superficial movies, films from Flanders (gotta go check a map ?) must inform us of our limitations. This was more of a long-slow-still-unspoken (even with seldom-displayed subtitles in English)so that I often was confused. Not a common or comfortable state of mind.There was so little dialogue in Violent-Violet that it pointed out how vociferous & vocal we always are in USA . Americans, by comparison, are all-ways burbling, blurting, grimacing and doing some gestural antics... while apparently in Flanders they don't do all that.That this film was deep, slow, still, photographed mostly with-in shadows, the mood elicited emotional difficulties, but it was still difficult to decipher what and who was who/why/how and what was happening there. The big color blasts and arty-filled screen created the dynamics that the plot, acting and non-dialogue didn't do.But even then, some scenes had me distracted - thinking "who is that ?" and "what are they doing ?" and "what is happening there?",-like in 1 set of scenes of a man (unclear who he was to story's content) that hinted at a possible secreted-gay clue, maybe ? Or maybe not ? This distraction was not helpful to continuity or being able to follow along and even enjoy the film.Main theme noted was not 'grief' as advertised, but that young guys in groups – like some of these - who ride low bikes (like "low-riders" but more into learning bike tricks than drunk/drugged and haranguing other people). The male victims can be killed by unknown other males - or even be helpless victims of any crime - and then affected, repressed, confused for long after any traumatic event.And male-like behaviors require that all remains mostly 'unspoken' - and thus not examined nor well understood. Dangers are not admitted, but happen to young males everywhere, in any culture/country : like in this film where 1 got killed - by someone in another gang (motives unknown, so story was not clear).And how another 1 young guy - who witnessed his friend be stomped to death - kept quiet. He did not display grief, but rather was unable to express himself, though he was offered the chance more than once.To display and remind us all of how dangerous it is for young males in ANY society to be damaged by other males -- for reasons often unexpected or unknown -- is important and relevant. A story that is ignored in the usual push to try to make males be strong "heroes" of every man-child born. It happens. But still this is not very human/ humane.Violet was very arty and displayed great photography - with big color changes and unexpected stills... darkness prevailing, shadows dramatizing most scenes, totaling a strange viewing experience... it was more like an art installation-exhibit, but put onto film in a darkened theater.Well worth the ticket price though, for sure ! Even if I did not fully understand nor have all facts or the stories resolved. The experience, the process of viewing what is unknown but often arty is good.Reading reviews Before spoils the unexpected and experience, with expectations and others' spun views. And Violet reminds us that we just don't hardly do ART in USA films.As Distributors pick the best of foreign films for public's viewing, the movie corporation is Selective for the showing of those who come, pay, leave, & maybe wonder what they had just experienced ? This one thus offers good & unusual film viewing experiences. The film title was very misleading and seemed not pertinent to the story or viewing, unless one treasures songs over other art forms. Probably very few even knew or had heard of that song or noticed it while viewing a violent-themed film.

laika-spoetnik Violet is the debut feature of the Flemish director Bas Devos.Violet deals, mainly in a visual way, with the grief and guilt feelings of a teenager (Jesse - César De Sutter) who -rather passively- witnesses the violent death of his friend and BMX mate Jonas in a shopping mall.The movie leans heavily on visuals. Even the title Violet is associatively related to violent and to violet, a color at the higher end of the visible spectrum (and also the soundtrack by the black metal band Deafheaven).Dialogues are sparse, and when they take place hardly decipherable. Which I found quite annoying. The acting was moderate.In an interview, Bas Devos said he found it more important how the images affect you than what they exactly show. However, in my case the images hardly had an impact: they were isolated pictures, mere beautiful images, nice long takes of the neighborhood at dawn resp. sunset. Even the excellent and original shots of BMX-rides didn't truly add to the story.Indeed, the Flemish Nicolas Karakatsanis (known from the Drop, the Welp and Rundskop) is an expert in atmospheric cinematography. But only at times the visuals enhanced the story.For instance at the start of the movie, we see shots of a desolated shopping mall (mostly in dead silence) with two groups of boys who will later appear to be the offenders and their victims. We watch them from different angles, even when they meet. Later it becomes clear we are looking at a CCTV footage. Then the footage is re-winded…, the sounds return and we see the mall and the boys -one dead- in "real life".Also the loud "background noises" from birds in the morning, traffic and children's voices added to the alienating effect.Thus in conclusion, a nice debut feature with excellent camera work, but too experimental for the average audience, even art-house fans like me.

daedelson I was not prepared for this movie. I didn't know the story and, frankly, from the poster I thought it was about a teenage girl growing up. I'd like to think I went to this movie open minded, not expecting anything.And then it started. And it was slow. And it was made by someone who must love riding bmx bikes. Countless minutes of bmx bike footage. In the woods. In the venue. On the street.Both dialog and acting were, frankly, poor. It seemed like the words and dialects were forced upon the young actors.So I guess the movie was about atmosphere. I can enjoy atmosphere. For about the length of a short movie. For longer features, I need at least a bit of story. A bit of background. A bit of tension.I don't mind slow movies. I do mind movies that don't move at all. And this feature didn't seem to go anywhere.

Jenny Clarke VioletOften it seems that films, in efforts to delve in the mysterious world of teenage girls, forgets or ignores teenage boys, unless they are lovelorn. But this could be the year of the teenage boy in cinema, with films like Hellion and All This Mayhem focusing on aspects of adolescents other than romance. Violet is probably the most interesting and experimental, and probably my favourite. The opening of the film is a slow tense build up of CCTV footage that concludes with Jesse's witnessing his friends murder. The rest of the film deals with Jesse's grief, avoiding all the cinematic clichés: no angst showers or despairing parents, Violet provides a realistic portrait of Jesse adapting to life now that his friend is gone. With a minimal script Devos is able to build convincing relationships between Jesse and his friends and family, that also provides insight into the various ways grief can affect different people. Jesse's understated characterisation is a central force in the film which allows Devos to create many beautifully composed long takes: winding through suburban streets, zooming in on Jesse in a heavy metal concert crowd and a claustrophobic journey back to the scene of the murder, that build the narrative. Devos then goes ahead and continuously disrupts these scenes with interludes of visual feedback and white noise, that link back to the opening CCTV scenes and provide a strange texture that is entirely captivating. Films like Violet that succeed in character, narrative while maintaining a creative experimental element, are few and far between; and films that portray grief this convincingly are even rarer.