North Sea Texas

North Sea Texas
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bavo Defurne
Produced by	Yves Verbraeken
Written by	Bavo Defurne Yves Verbraeken
Based on	Nooit gaat dit over  by André Sollie
Starring	Jelle Florizoone Mathias Vergels Eva Van Der Gucht Katelijne Damen Noor Ben Taouet
Music by	Adriano Cominotto
Cinematography	Anton Mertens
Edited by	Els Voorspoels
Production company	Indeed films Mollywood Eén
Distributed by	Kinepolis Film Distribution (Belgium) Cinemien (Netherlands) Strand Releasing (USA) Peccadillo Pictures (UK)
Release dates	16 March 2011 (2011-03-16)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Belgium
Language	Dutch

North Sea Texas (Dutch: Noordzee, Texas) is a 2011 Flemish drama film and the first feature from cult director Bavo Defurne,^[1] starring Jelle Florizoone and Mathias Vergels. The screenplay was written by Bavo Defurne and Yves Verbraeken and is based in the 2004 children's novel Nooit gaat dit over by Andre Sollie.^[2] The film follows the story of Pim, a boy - living with his reckless mother - who falls in love with his male best friend, Gino.

Plot

The film starts off with a young Pim at a fair in which he holds his mother's, Yvette, hand. At the fair, young Pim meets Zoltan, a fairworker who would later rent a room in their house but leave early enough in Pim's life that he has little memory of him. The film then jumps some years into the future.

Pim lives in a run-down house somewhere at the Belgian coast, together with his mother, a local accordion starlet. Yvette uses her fat man friend Etienne as a driver for the nights she has to “perform." The film continues on with a slightly older but still childish Pim going inside his mother's room while she plays music in another room of the house. Pim begins to wear his mother's pageant clothing. She walks in on him, but remains calm. Young Pim is then introduced to Gino, who is 3 years older, Sabrina and their mother, Marcela and adopts them as a second family.

Pim is now 14 on the eve of his 15th birthday. He remains close friends with Gino, but when both of them are in a garage alone, they share an intimate moment when they masturbate in front of each other. Gino cleans himself using a dirty cloth which Pim then opens his hand for and Gino calls him a "dirty scoundrel." Pim has a small box in which he keeps his treasured memories including the cloth and some of his mother's clothes that he used to wear.

Pim has a tense relationship with Etienne, his mother's "boyfriend" and Gino's boss at the autoshop. However, Etienne gives Pim a knife for his birthday. Later that day at Gino's, Sabrina's, and Marcela's house, Pim is there when Sabrina makes a suggestion that Pim stays the night. Gino then suggests that him and Pim camp out in a tent on the beach instead. They do so and both share an intimate kiss after some hesitation and are suggested to have had sex. Pim's and Gino's relationship develops in which Pim is a regular in Marcela's home. When Gino turns 18, he purchases a motorcycle which the two ride together. After sharing an intimate moment by a pond, Gino and Pim further become closer to the point Pim says they do everything together. However, one day after having sex at the pond, Gino begins to go to De Panne on a regular basis. The two begin to go farther apart. Pim once again questions his gender when he tries to wear his mother's clothes but stops. Pim then learns from Marcella that Gino has a girlfriend named Francoise and now lives in Dunkirk with her. Pim becomes increasingly isolated and returns to drawing which is his escape to his dream world. Back at the house of Sabrina and Marcella, Sabrina catches Gino and Francoise being intimate. Pim also saw them being intimate from an open window as he stood in front of their house. Pim then ruins Gino's motorcycle with the cloth Gino gave him when they were first intimate which infuriates Gino. Pim becomes depressed and cries at home over this.

Later, Sabrina tries to become more intimate with Pim as she is infatuated with him. Sabrina attempts to dance to with Pim at her home but Pim can't. She asks if she is pretty and Pim says yes. She asks him to kiss her but he leaves the house. Sabrina later visits Pim's house when he isn't home under the ruse that she is checking out the room Yvette, Pim's mom, is trying to rent out. Sabrina distracts Yvette and goes into Pim's room and takes one of his drawings but she does not know what the drawing is. After Sabrina runs home, she opens the drawing which is of Gino in which Pim drew him naked above his waist but with pubic hair showing and his name written multiple times. Sabrina is infuriated by this and becomes hostile to Pim whenever she sees him. Later, Yvette comes home late and night and claims that Etienne attempted to rape her. She bit him and he went off. Zoltan comes back at a later time and once again rents Yvette's spare room. However, Yvette has become attracted to Zoltan as he is now several years older and now an attractive young man. Pim is interested in Zoltan sexually but never acts upon it but merely tries to peek at Zoltan in the shower.

Pim is now almost 17 years old when he receives a phone call late at night. The call is from Gino. Gino and Pim meet on a beach to discuss their unresolved issues. Gino pushes Pim to be with his sister and claims that the intimate moments they shared 2–3 years ago was merely a game and part of them being kids. Pim's silent treatment leads to him revealing that he plans to leave with Zoltan once the fair moves out of town. Gino disapproves of this while Pim then claims he looks good when he's jealous. Gino claims he is not and asks, "You don't think I was in love with you, surely?" This infuriates Pim who then shoves him to the sand and runs away. Back at home, Pim hears moaning coming from his mother's room. He goes in to see and find his mother and Zoltan having sex. Pim runs away from home for the evening. However when he comes back, he finds that his mother and Zoltan have left and have left him with nothing as Yvette complained that her son was holding her back.

Marcella offers her home to the now alone Pim who truly believes that everyone in his life leaves him. Sabrina is angry with Pim moving in but Marcella offers Pim Gino's old room. Some time later, Marcella talks about needing to get her kidneys checked. The film moves to Gino running into the hospital to find his mother on the bed with Pim and Sabrina sitting next to her. In her final moments, Marcella asks for her purse and gives her children a picture of their father whom they have never known. Her final act was to ask for the hand of Gino in her right hand and Pim in her left. She then lifts her hands and puts the two boys' hands together. The two hold hands for a brief moment before letting go and finding that Marcella has died. The death of Marcella further drives Pim to truly believe he is alone in this world. He burns the box with all his treasured possessions including the tiara. Pim then strips down naked and runs into the ocean saying the letters of the alphabet and lets the waves overcome him.

The film then goes to Sabrina and Gino walking behind Marcella's hearse at her funeral. Pim comes from behind the two and walks with him behind the hearse along with several other people. Pim asks Gino where Francoise is and Gino says she's sick when Sabrina then calls her a cow. Pim and Sabrina now live in Marcella's home together and begin to mend their strained friendship ever since Sabrina found out Pim was gay. In a different day, Sabrina goes to work at her mother's old job while Pim stays home during a rainy day. Gino then comes storming in through the front door. Pim tells Gino that Sabrina isn't home but Gino replies that he's here for Pim. Gino moves forward to Pim but Pim moves back and throws him a towel to dry off. Pim grabs two beers from the fridge. Pim tells Gino that he is only living in his home temporarily. Gino then drinks a bit from one when Pim asks him, "What do you want from me?" Gino then grabs Pim and moves him against the wall. Pim then says, "I waited for you." Gino then hands him the cloth that he masturbated into 3 years ago which Pim used to break his motorcycle those years ago and tells Pim that he gave it to him. Gino tells him to tie a knot in it and to not ever forget him. Gino then proceeds to kiss Pim on the neck and the two embrace one another passionately. Pim tells Gino to "stay" and the film ends with the two of them embracing each other finally on this rainy day.^[3]

Music

Theme Song - Wooly Clouds by Little Auk

Cast

• Jelle Florizoone - Pim^[4][5]
• Mathias Vergels - Gino
• Eva Van Der Gucht - Yvette
• Nina Marie Kortekaas - Sabrina
• Katelijne Damen - Marcella
• Thomas Coumans - Zoltan
• Luk Wyns - Etienne
• Ben Van den Heuvel - young Pim
• Noor Ben Taout - young Sabrina
• Nathan Naenen - young Gino
• Ella-June Henrard - Françoise
• Patricia Goemaere - Simonne
• Daniel Sikora - Maurice
• Victor Zaidi - Julien

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 81% out of 26 professional critics gave the film a positive review.^[6] Henry Barnes from The Guardian said that "North Sea Texas looks beautiful, is acted brilliantly, but it's hard to get a hold on when Pim's drifting by in a dream world."^[7] Allan Hunter from the Daily Express called it "A delicate little heartwarmer of a film."^[1]

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of the Chicago Sun-Times panned it, and compared the film to the director's previous efforts: “So why is it that Campfire is engrossing, while North Sea Texas is frequently dull?”^[8] Vishnevetsky notes this is Bavo Defurne's first feature-length film, having made short films since 1990, and Defurne fails to develop the characters or story with the extra time.^[9]

Awards

At the 2011 edition of the Montreal International Film Festival, the film received two prizes: the "Silver Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film" and the "Fipresci Prize for a film in the First Films Competition".^[10] In late October, the film premiered at the Rome International Film Festival. It was warmly welcomed there, receiving the Marc'Aurelio Alice nella Città 13 + Award of the Festival.^[11]

In January, the film was selected for the Palm Springs International Film Festival, along with four other Flemish films. It was released in the United States by Strand Releasing, after it bought the film rights to Wavelength Pictures.^[12]

The film was also screened at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and was released April 6, 2012 in the UK. In 2013 it was screened in the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival, TLVFest.

References

External links

• North Sea Texas at the Internet Movie Database
• North Sea Texas at Rotten Tomatoes