Review: The Ghastly Brothers (orig. De Gebroeders Schimm) (2021)
Very silly, very funny, and lots of heart
Two disclaimers up front:
- I, being Flemish, actively avoid Flemish cinema. Just not an itch I need scratching.
- The Gasthly Brothers (orig: De Gebroeders Schimm) is made by people I know, and people (especially the people I know) should be supported in their creative endeavours. So here we are.
The Ghastly Brothers, directed by actual brothers Andrew & Michael Van Ostade, follows Lilith (Eva Luna Van Hijfte), a young teenager with a slight detective novel addiction, as she is shipped off to a boarding school when her mother (Tine Embrechts) has to go work on the other side of the world. Headstrong and inquisitive, Lilith soon finds out that the school is overrun by the supernatural and turns to the only ones willing to take her seriously: the titular brothers (played by the Van Ostade brothers); an inept, yet somehow effective duo, they teach her what they know and find that she can teach them a thing or two as well.
The movie wears its influences proudly, mixing eighties kidsmovies with a touch of Belgian absurdism, covered in silly saus. And I have to admit that it works. More than that, it works really well. This movie isn’t for me, not really. I’m too old (except for that handful of jokes aimed squarely at my cohort) and my kids are too young (the viewing guide says 9; so they should be at least 6 or 7, probably). And yet… I had a big smile on my face for most of the movie, whenever I wasn’t doing my best to stifle my sniffles. (The ups and downs of parent child relationships make me mushy, I can’t help it.) There are no villains in this movie. The supernatural horrors are mostly misunderstood creatures of our own making and the biggest obstacles are our own selves. Everybody is doing their best and, with a little eldritch nudging, everybody comes together and everything works out. I like that.
The acting is, well, not consistently great, but more than adequate; the over-the-top, nudge-nudge-wink-wink, almost slapstick acting of the Ghastly Brothers themselves works, and works well, because most everybody else is their straight man; the kids are generally good to great, with a few misses here and there, but also stand-outs. This luckily includes Eva Luna Van Hijfte, as well as her manic snail loving friend played by Nilou Hemat, the two kids with the most screentime.
The monsters themselves are pretty much all real puppets, which is cool, I guess? Sorry, it does very little for me. What does do a lot for me, however, is the cinematography; there were a surprising amount of shots that were, at the very least, very well framed and, at best, well, beautiful.
That’s probably the take-away here: yes, it’s silly and some things don’t land, perfectly or at all. But it is expertly and lovingly crafted and that shines through in pretty much every minute of the movie. So if you like eighties adventure movies and/or have kids in the right age bracket: get vaccinated, come to the Low Countries and find a cinema that plays it. You won’t be disappointed.
